Batgirl Movie Cancelled by WB

[thebobmaster]

Batgirl Movie Cancelled, Won’t Be Released on HBO Max or Theatrically

Warner Bros. Discovery is hanging up Batgirl's cowl much earlier than expected

tvline.com

Fuck it, I have enough to say about this to warrant its own topic, not just a generic news post.

So, despite this movie being deep in post-production, and therefore having basically all the money spent on it that it was going to have spent, WB decided to cancel Batgirl. They aren't only pulling it from its theatrical release, but they have no plans to even release it on HBO Max. Apparently, it wasn't testing well enough with audiences, and they've been cancelling a fair few projects to save on money thanks to the WB and Discovery merger.

Here's my issue. First off, as I said, the film was basically done. They've basically just pissed away all of the money they've already spent on Batgirl with no way to get any of it back. If they had released it with minimal marketing...OK, it may not have done well at the box office, but I'm pretty sure it would have been able to recoup more than its marketing costs, so even from a business perspective, I don't get it.

But what really bothers me is that $90 million is the budget of Batgirl at this point. That's not a lot of money, by Hollywood standards. You know what movie has a much larger budget, is not nearly as far in production, and has SO MUCH CONTROVERSY surrounding it at this point? The Flash. Why are Warner Bros. so stubborn about sticking by Ezra Miller after all that they've done, but the second audiences seem to not care for Batgirl, "Welp, might as well cancel it, no way we can save this film."?

 

[thebobmaster]

OK, this is apparently the real reason they cancelled it. Tax write-off!

 

[09philj]

OK, this is apparently the real reason they cancelled it. Tax write-off!

To be fair, studios always want to make the most financial value they can out of a project. If they surmise that the amount they'll save off their tax bill by writing the whole thing off is probably going to be bigger than the amount it would make in ticket sales, they will make the call to can a film. It's a shame for everyone who worked on the production that audiences aren't going to get to see their work though.

 

[Bob_McMillan]

Not gonna lie, can't help but point and laugh at this. I've always loved DC characters more (actually, FAR more) than Marvel characters, but corporations gotta learn that there are consequences to their actions. Not that the consequences for this will be particularly severe, but WB and DC being an internet laughingstock is good enough for me.

That said, even though I didn't care for the movie from the beginning, this fucking sucks for all the people actually involved in the movie. Given how the movie making industry works, I'm guessing quite a few workers are going to be hard off financially for a while. In this economy too.

 

[Bedinsis]

Something I found on twitter (That I'm in too much of a hurry to source right now):

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FZNjmzkXwAAcIIJ?format=jpg&name=large

EDIT: found the source:

Warner Bros. Discovery Leadership Team Draws Ire Over Diversity

Despite being under pressure from lawmakers to diversify its staff, the new media giant has a notable amount of homogeneity at the top.

www.bloomberg.com

Spoiler: quote from the article, same as the twitter link

As David Zaslav prepared to take over Warner Bros. Discovery Inc., one of the largest media companies in the world, he told friends in Hollywood that he would hire the best people he could find. Gender and racial diversity, while a factor, would not be his top priority, he said, according to multiple people he told.

His methods have resulted in a notable amount of homogeneity at the top of the new media giant. Given six seats on the new company’s board, Zaslav and Discovery appointed a roster of all White male directors. The majority of the chief executive officer’s 13 direct reports, many of whom were recent hires, are White men. Meanwhile, Zaslav in April fired Warner Bros. chief Ann Sarnoff, one of the highest-ranking women in Hollywood — without filling her role — and replaced WarnerMedia’s heads of communications and finance with White men from Discovery.

 

[Agema]

OK, this is apparently the real reason they cancelled it. Tax write-off!

That sort of shit absolutely should not happen.

One of the points of capitalism is that if companies make shit people don't want then they deserve to make a loss, and they do it too much then they go broke. This shouldn't be undermined by the tax system.

 

[thebobmaster]

It looks like Batgirl was just the beginning for WB.

Why HBO Max Removed 6 Streaming-Exclusive Movies, with More to Come

Warner Bros. Discovery leader David Zaslav takes no prisoners, but he will take tax breaks.

www.indiewire.com

 

[gorfias]

Not gonna lie, can't help but point and laugh at this. I've always loved DC characters more (actually, FAR more) than Marvel characters, but corporations gotta learn that there are consequences to their actions. Not that the consequences for this will be particularly severe, but WB and DC being an internet laughingstock is good enough for me.

That said, even though I didn't care for the movie from the beginning, this fucking sucks for all the people actually involved in the movie. Given how the movie making industry works, I'm guessing quite a few workers are going to be hard off financially for a while. In this economy too.

Really sucks for Michael Keaton and his version of Batman.
His version of Batman has 5 scenes in this movie, reportedly including the final shot of him and Batgirl jumping and gliding off a building together.
He was to be in Aquaman, if that ever comes out if they can remove Heard from it. Instead, Batfleck will be back. If this movie happens.

And then, the Flash. If anything like the comic/cartoon version of Paradox, Batman (Thomas Wayne) is a major character. Thanks to Ezra? This too may not happen.

 

[SilentPony]

OH Shit!

There was a Batgirl movie in the works?

 

[meiam]

So, actor usually have some residual clause in their contract where they can get a portion of the profit a movie make, no? Wouldn't them not releasing the movie be some sort of breach of contract or something?

Anyway, its DC movie, DC are somehow horrible at movie (despite making great cartoon show), so it would have bombed. Especially since the public seems to be getting feed up with superhero with marvel overproducing stuff.

 

[BrawlMan]

Anyway, its DC movie, DC are somehow horrible at movie (despite making great cartoon show), so it would have bombed. Especially since the public seems to be getting feed up with superhero with marvel overproducing stuff

I wouldn't go that far. The overproducing is a Marvel problem. Second, just because it's a DC movie doesn't mean it's automatically bad. I hate that fallacy, and it's something that needs to die. Third, people are still hyped up for Aquaman 2 and Black Adam, so there isn't exactly a superhero fatigue. Not to forget that Peacemaker did excellent earlier this year. Did you forget about The Batman already?

People are tired yes, but that's because Disney thinks it has to pump out content like crazy, and expecting everything to be well done, and sell constant gangbusters. It's a two-way street though, because you got the fans that demanded more. You know the old saying, be careful of what you wish for. Constantly expecting for these shows to give them the Earth, the Moon, and the Sun.

 

[Chimpzy]

So, actor usually have some residual clause in their contract where they can get a portion of the profit a movie make, no? Wouldn't them not releasing the movie be some sort of breach of contract or something?

While it does sometimes happens that an actor gets a percentage of the box office instead of a set salary, that is pretty much limited to the biggest actors that can fill theaters just by having their name attached to the movie. Leslie Grace does not have that kind of star power, I doubt she could negotiate a deal like that.

Also, iirc, residuals is not the profits from a movie's theater run, but a percentage of the profits from when the movie moves to dvd/bluray, streaming and/or syndication on network tv. That's assuming there are profits of course, because that's relies on what the movie studio's accountants have on the books, and they have ways of making very successful things not so profitable ... on paper.

 

[Xprimentyl]

At this point, this is basically the same as hearing Starbucks has closed one of its 34,000 locations. Why is this one receiving such attention? Was this highly anticipated or something? We've had 358 different Batman movies over the past few decades, and countless superhero outings in general in only the past few years; was Batgirl the missing piece of a puzzle with no edges? Just saying, given the proliferation of superhero shit in cinema, I don't think Batgirl is necessarily the "hero the [cinematic] city needs" to be up in arms about its cancellation. But here I ago again doing something I personally hate: adding nothing to the discussion over a topic I care nothing about. Disregard me.

 

[BrawlMan]

At this point, this is basically the same as hearing Starbucks has closed one of its 34,000 locations. Why is this one receiving such attention? Was this highly anticipated or something? We've had 358 different Batman movies over the past few decades, and countless superhero outings in general in only the past few years; was Batgirl the missing piece of a puzzle with no edges? Just saying, given the proliferation of superhero shit in cinema, I don't think Batgirl is necessarily the "hero the [cinematic] city needs" to be up in arms about its cancellation. But here I ago again doing something I personally hate: adding nothing to the discussion over a topic I care nothing about. Disregard me.

That's not the point. People were excited for this movie. I didn't ask for the part of cinematic universe, but there have been people begging for a live action Batgirl movie for years and decades on end. You might not have care, but I and many others did. We have a movie that got canceled because of listening to the fleeting opinions of "test audiences", and scrapping of the movie for some stupid tax loophole. I can understand why anybody would be frustrated at this. And even if the movie was not good, it still deserved to be seen and live and die on its own merits. WB Discovery can screw off and this has me concerned about any future projects that come up way later under their label. Now I also got to tell several of my relatives who were excited to see this, that it's being canceled. Because I already know most of them don't stay in the movie news loop, so I got to tell them personally at some point.

 

[SilentPony]

At this point, this is basically the same as hearing Starbucks has closed one of its 34,000 locations. Why is this one receiving such attention? Was this highly anticipated or something? We've had 358 different Batman movies over the past few decades, and countless superhero outings in general in only the past few years; was Batgirl the missing piece of a puzzle with no edges? Just saying, given the proliferation of superhero shit in cinema, I don't think Batgirl is necessarily the "hero the [cinematic] city needs" to be up in arms about its cancellation. But here I ago again doing something I personally hate: adding nothing to the discussion over a topic I care nothing about. Disregard me.

I think the big reason, at least my take away from reading a few articles, is the movie is basically done. Some post production work, probably needs a soundtrack, but primary filming and editing is more or less done. The movie could be out by Thanksgiving.
But they're scrapping it, and most of the DCEU, because at this point they would lose more money finishing the movie, doing the press tour and ads and releasing in theaters than they would if they just scrap them now.
With the bullshit behind Amber Heard reportedly being editing out of Aquaman 2, and Ezra Miller having a 16 year old girl tied up in the back of his car during his "You can't stop what you can't catch" US tour, I'm expecting Aquaman 2 and Flash movie to be silently canceled any day now.
And I would say its a shame, but its really not. Say what you will about bloated, over-produced Marvel movies, at least the cast and crew clearly want to make the movies. The DCEU was always the cheap knock off of Marvel, wanting all the fame, money, money and money of Marvel without wanting to do even a tenth of the work to get it. And it shows; the DCEU movies don't have even a tenth of the writing or editing even a low tier Marvel movie has.

 

[BrawlMan]

. Say what you will about bloated, over-produced Marvel movies, at least the cast and crew clearly want to make the movies

There are plenty of people on the DCEU that wanted to make movies too. Maybe not every single person, but plenty. Plus, not everyone wanted to make movies on the Marvel side, or eventually wanted to to move on to something else, after their roles were done.

 

[SilentPony]

There are plenty of people on the DCEU that wanted to make movies too. Maybe not every single person, but plenty. Plus, not everyone wanted to make movies on the Marvel side, or eventually wanted to to move on to something else, after their roles were done.

I mean not the writers, directors or editors. Im sure Ben Affleck really did enjoy being Batman until they told him he couldn't direct. But even then, remember the press tour for Batman vs Superman and how depressed everyone was? Or Joss Whedon just copying and pasting jokes from Avengers Age of Ultron into Justice League? Or anything that has to do with the Suicide Squad movies being a miserable assortment of scenes and lines not leading anywhere.
Marvel still wants to make the MCU. Im not convinced DC ever wanted to make the DCEU, they just wanted MCU paychecks and did the bare minimum they thought they needed to do to get it. And it shows. The DCEU is the bare minimum of comicbook movies. Im not even sure its fair to call it a cinematic universe. I'm pretty sure Flash was meant to reboot the whole thing, we got that other Batman now, and the actor who plays Flag, Joel Kinnaman, said DC would absolutely bring Flag back and declare Suicide Squad 2 non-canon if they thought it would make money.
Say what you will about actors leaving the MCU, I think Marvel would have to bend over pretty far and cut a pretty damn big check to get RDJ to come in and declare do-overs for Tony's death.

 

[Xprimentyl]

That's not the point. People were excited for this movie. I didn't ask for the part of cinematic universe, but there have been people begging for a live action Batgirl movie for years and decades on end. You might not have care, but I and many others did. We have a movie that got canceled because of listening to the fleeting opinions of "test audiences", and scrapping of the movie for some stupid tax loophole. I can understand why anybody would be frustrated at this. And even if the movie was not good, it still deserved to be seen and live and die on its own merits. WB Discovery can screw off and this has me concerned about any future projects that come up way later under their label. Now I also got to tell several of my relatives who were excited to see this, that it's being canceled. Because I already know most of them don't stay in the movie news loot, so I got to tell them personally at some point.

I think the big reason, at least my take away from reading a few articles, is the movie is basically done. Some post production work, probably needs a soundtrack, but primary filming and editing is more or less done. The movie could be out by Thanksgiving.
But they're scrapping it, and most of the DCEU, because at this point they would lose more money finishing the movie, doing the press tour and ads and releasing in theaters than they would if they just scrap them now.
With the bullshit behind Amber Heard reportedly being editing out of Aquaman 2, and Ezra Miller having a 16 year old girl tied up in the back of his car during his "You can't stop what you can't catch" US tour, I'm expecting Aquaman 2 and Flash movie to be silently canceled any day now.
And I would say its a shame, but its really not. Say what you will about bloated, over-produced Marvel movies, at least the cast and crew clearly want to make the movies. The DCEU was always the cheap knock off of Marvel, wanting all the fame, money, money and money of Marvel without wanting to do even a tenth of the work to get it. And it shows; the DCEU movies don't have even a tenth of the writing or editing even a low tier Marvel movie has.

Okay, I guess I just have too much sympathy for the dozens of much better movies that could be made if Hollywood wasn't busy yanking it over superhero revenue to shed a tear for Batgirl.

 

[Gordon_4]

Okay, I guess I just have too much sympathy for the dozens of much better movies that could be made if Hollywood wasn't busy yanking it over superhero revenue to shed a tear for Batgirl.

Like what?

 

[SilentPony]

Okay, I guess I just have too much sympathy for the dozens of much better movies that could be made if Hollywood wasn't busy yanking it over superhero revenue to shed a tear for Batgirl.

See that's why its been scrapped. It wasn't going to make Superhero money.
I mean what continuity is this Batgirl? Same one from the CW? Or with the new Twilight Batman? Or Batfleck? Or the Keaton Batman to be reintroduced in Flash? Or Bale's Batman? Or a Batgirl in the Phoenix Joker continuity, that apparently getting a Lady Gaga Harley musical sequel, who will be a different Harley to the Suicide Squad Harley, who is apparently a different Harley to the Harley Quinn/Birds of Prey Harley(same actress, different timeline).
The DCEU is a mess and its just undignified its trying to pretend its not going to be over by Christmas.