NS: Bad news for Batgirl fans

[cyberghostface]

 

Apparently Warner Bros. has completely shelved Babs’ film. As in, no release of any kind. Just dead. The film, according to reports, just didn’t work.

I really don’t understand the mindset here. Even if we’re talking Tommy Wiseau-levels of filmmaking I don’t know what would warrant the film from being unreleased in any capacity. But as of now, your only chance of seeing it is if its leaked.

More info here.

Comments

[lordultimus]

Ironically, I'm much more interested in watching this now.

[laughing_tree]

Same.

[angelophile]

I feel like that may be the idea. They've spent $90m on it and while Variety are saying it's because of a change in focus for DC film and the New York Times are claiming it's from bad screenings, I imagine the truth is somewhere between the two and also them trying to create a market for the film.

[zachbeacon]

Didn't this start life as a Joss Whedon project? Between the bad press, the chaos of the DCEU falling apart, WB constantly changing hands, and the general embarrassment about the Batfamily the DC movie people have had ever since Batman and Robin ...I'm actually amazed it didn't get canceled sooner.

[alliterator]

This is completely different from the film that Whedon was going to make. It's written by Christina Hodson (the writer of Bumblebee and Birds of Prey) and directed by Adid El Arbi and Bilall Fallah (who directed Bad Boys for Life and, more recently, three episodes of Ms Marvel).

[deh_tommy]

Now I’m even more let down by this news. :(

[dan_ingram]

Why? How much is finished?

[cyberghostface]

They finished shooting the film. It was almost completed.

[mindsweeper]

Wow. I mean, HBO Max is, like, right there. Not like everything on there is the same canon.

[deh_tommy]

To my understanding it was meant to be released on HBO Max and possibly skip theatres.

[dan_ingram]

I honestly thought Babs was the wrong choice for a live action movie, but it sure seems odd to stop like, right before the finish line.

Are they hoping to fuel some 'Release the Snyder Cut' passion?

[owlbrigade1]

If they are then it is backfiring, the Synder Cut fans are busy high fiving each other over this cancellation.

[rainspirit]

So tired of this. Why is everything featuring a woman considered some kind of proxy war? It's so stupid.

[cyberghostface]

It has nothing to do with it being about a woman but because they’re against anything that is in opposition to the Snyderverse canon. Batgirl follows the new canon with Michael Keaton as Batman replacing Affleck.

[rainspirit]

Imagine a world where Ben Affleck's Batman is the one thing you enshrine over all depictions. Christ.

[deh_tommy]

Would this have been a new instalment in the original movie series or was Michael Keaton supposed to be playing a different Batman for whatever reason?

[cyberghostface]

Apparently Keaton is going to replace Affleck as Batman in the DCEU via whatever happens in the Flash film.

[dewinged]

The Flash film that is somehow still happening despite Ezra Miller being an absolute skid mark of a person

[cyberghostface]

They’re not in any position to throw that one out at least and it’s too late to recast Ezra. (Maybe they will but it will probably cost millions more to do so.)

[deh_tommy]

”Intriguing.” ~Dr. Michael Morbius

[windleopard2]

Where?

[cyberghostface]

It’s on twitter but it’s mainly due to them thinking this an indicator that the Snyderverse is coming back with this being cancelled and Ben Affleck returning in Aquaman 2.

[owlbrigade1]

Seems a particularly boneheaded move by DC/Warners, even by their standards.

[lordultimus]

Per a new Variety article, the reasoning for canning Batgirl was because it was worth more as a tax write-off. Essentially, the new management is killing the "streaming first" HBO strategy, but Batgirl was too small-scale to be worth upgrading (marketing, press tours, etc.) for a theatrical release.

https://variety.com/2022/film/news/batgirl-movie-why-not-releasing-warner-bros-1235332062/

[stubbleupdate]

[akodo_rokku]

Yeah. Discovery looked at their options, and decided canning it and writing it off as a loss was the way to get the most possible money back out of it.

[mazway_75]

Rumor now that a big move may be HBO Max just getting out of scripted stuff altogether, leave it to regular HBO as part of the Discovery merger.

Which seems very stupid to me and giving up shows to other streamers but then Warner Bros never known for top level smarts...

[mastermahan]

I mean, Wakko was never that bright, but Yakko tended to be pretty savvy.

[iamrman]

I thought that image was somenody cosplaying as Yvonne Craig from the Adam West Batman for a moment there.

[blueprintstyles]

WB is run by fools. Batgirl gets cancelled, but Gotham Knights gets to air?

[bravest_spinja]

Nope.

[janegray]

Considering my utter loathing for Barbara as Batgirl (#Oracleforever), I can't say I care about this.

BUT Gail Simone was sad, and I like Simone and I'm sorry if she is sad, so cancelling this movie was a bad thing.

[werehawk]

If they don’t want to advertise it as it is not a “big” enough movie (even for HBOMax), they should cut it up and make it a (short) series.

[walkingthroughforest]

Apparently a significant reason for this choice was that it had an overwhelmingly negative reactions from test audiences.

[angelophile]

Which was a report trying to stir up drama, as they'd already released test audience score and they were average to good, certainly nowhere near what was claimed in that one bit of coverage.

[mastermahan]

I wonder if the new powers that be at Warner Brothers Discovery are trying to sell off their holdings. Stuff like not releasing finished films or The Great CW Massacre make your profits look good in the short term since you're getting returns on investments without spending, but that's obviously not going to get you anything long term. This looks like vulture capitalist behavior.

[agent8]

Sometimes movies are made just to maintain the intellectual property rights to a character. Maybe this is one of them?

[cyberghostface]

DC is part of Warner Bros. so I don’t think that’s the case.

[kurenai_tenka]

Don't they have to release the films for that to apply though?

[cyberghostface]

Not necessarily. Look at Roger Corman’s Fantastic Four.

Although again it doesn’t apply to this as Warner Bros. owns DC. It’s not like Sony with Spider-Man for example where they need to make a film every so often lest the rights go back to Marvel.

[bradygirl_12]

I say Marvel infiltrated Warner Brothers years ago. How else to explain the constant bungling?

[john_drake1964]

So, with yesterdays Q2 Earnings Call (post-Discovery Merger) and looking at things, it seems at this moment that the situation, while not dire, is not ideal. While restructuring and financial paring are nothing new in the world of mega-mergers and corporate debt (which WBD has a not insignificant sum of hanging around,) some of the comments and revelations given at the Earnings Call showcase a future for Warner and HBO Max that is...certainly something.

Now, while some things might be explained through the general shifting of a studio management leadership to refocus and financially get the return for their buck they need (the hard truth being a studio needs money to stay afloat) that some decisions being made certainly feel rather oddly or poorly considered. The decision to simply shelve Batgirl, Scoob sequel film, and others already near completion or completed seems rather badly considered, especially as the current studio head stated that they have confidence in films such as The Flash (perhaps in spite of the continuing controversy regarding that, the most generous reason why they have confidence is because The Flash is intended as a major tent-pole film and stating "yeah, no, this ain't working" openly with major shareholders tends to make them skittish and react badly...like the stock market did following the call.) Or the feeling that the executives who came over from Discovery now seek to make Warner Bros the lesser organ to the Discovery arm, which given their management of that channel, does not speak of good times ahead.

In this, I am reminded of the words of the late Sir Terry Pratchett:

"What you have to remember is that in the movies there are two types of people: 1) the directors, artists, actors and so on who have to do things and are often quite human and 2) the other lifeforms. Unfortunately you have to deal with the other lifeforms first. It is impossible to exaggerate their baleful stupidity."