Also consider reputational damage: a turkey so disease-riddled and emaciated that it could cost every film that might be associated with it (e.g. a Batman movie, even the entire DC universe), and quite a lot of the cast/crew and executives, too.
Batgirl Movie Cancelled by WB
- Thread starter thebobmaster
- Start date
You mean like Josstice League and Batman v Superman? They weren't exactly turkeys, persay, but they definitely colored the perception of DC movies for a long time afterwards, to the point where everyone thought DCEU was the grim-gritty counter to the fun MCU, even with films like Aquaman and Shazam coming out. I'm not arguing that reputational damage isn't a thing, mind you. It definitely is, and has affected films and series before, hence why it took so long for Marvel to do anything with Daredevil or The Punisher after they got the rights back. I'm just not fully convinced that Batgirl would have done that much damage to the DC universe brand even if it had flopped.
WB indulge in Superdickery: the Batgirl footage has been deleted.
Well, I guess that is very much fucking that.
Well, I guess that is very much fucking that.
Of course, to say that things are going badly for Warner Bros...is a fucking UNDERSTATEMENT.
www.giantfreakinrobot.com
Warner Bros. Discovery Has Lost $20 Billion In Value
Warner Bros Discovery wants to cut costs, but apparently doing so has made the company drop like a freaking stone.
www.giantfreakinrobot.com
What exactly does Discovery have that they haven't shown yet that makes them think they can burn all these bridges without major repercussions? - They are setting a shit ton of bad blood with consumer and creator alike.
Hot take.
The movie fucking sucks. The execs decide to reverse psychology the whole thing and pantomime a cancellation. They get everybody in on it. The footage is lost in a terrible fire. A few months go by and lo and behold, they've recovered the footage and they're releasing the movie. What's more, it's getting a limited release in theaters. See if that doesn't pack em. Zaslav saves the world from uh Zaslav. And everybody who either wouldn't have given a shit about Batgirl or criticized a shitty movie must henceforth qualify it as a win for humanity.
The movie fucking sucks. The execs decide to reverse psychology the whole thing and pantomime a cancellation. They get everybody in on it. The footage is lost in a terrible fire. A few months go by and lo and behold, they've recovered the footage and they're releasing the movie. What's more, it's getting a limited release in theaters. See if that doesn't pack em. Zaslav saves the world from uh Zaslav. And everybody who either wouldn't have given a shit about Batgirl or criticized a shitty movie must henceforth qualify it as a win for humanity.
Only issue I see with that scenario is that the film is stored digitally so any fire that wipes it out would take basically every other film WB has on file.
The director (or maybe it was producer) said that when he got news of the cancellation, he tried to save a copy of the film, but found out it had already been wiped digitally. I think that's what Johnny was referring to.
I say it wasn't actually a fire but Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson trying to not lose their cool over an Apple and losing
My understanding is that for them to be able to cancel it and legally declare it a failed project to the IRS they HAVE to delete everything associated with it.
That sounds very stupid
I assume the IRS is trying to stop the movie to suddenly become 'unfailed'.
*Puts down Marshmallow toasting fork*
Batgirl Movie Cancelled, Won’t Be Released on HBO Max or Theatrically
Warner Bros. Discovery is hanging up Batgirl's cowl much earlier than expectedtvline.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."?
1) It's $90 Million but also then another about $45 Million for marketing and global theatre distribution etc etc. Which as they're claiming some catastrophic error (some modern corporate equivalent of the studio burned down with the original film reels in it) they get to claim that money back off the government as a failed business venture write off or almost all of it at least. Releasing it would mean they don't get to claim that kind of money back and would need it to at least cover the marketing & half or more of the films production costs most likely.
2) The Flash (despite Ezra Miller's bad PR) is WB's chance to reboot the continuity and try to convert the present fans over to their new universe and announce to people who aren't fans that this is the new start point for them to jump in on. It's almost the easier story to adapt to screen out of the comics rather than needing to eplain how Superboy prime punched a hole in reality itself because it got angry. Batgirl isn't seen as a core part of their plan and isn't planned to bring over old fans to the new style and ideas they're planning for the DCU
Oddly agree.
Or if you want to Tax write off a piece of art the government should be given the rights to the film. Let the government be able to sell or release it for sale places and make some of that money back at least or something.
I mean they can bring Flag back and still have his death be cannon because Suicide Squad DC McGuffin stuff. They basically have a way to bring members back from the dead in the comics but it comes at a price of basically giving them a time limit on their life before they just drop dead anyway and can't be brought back, I think it was 5 years in the comics for the first death then if they die before then it's 2 years (unless they're already approaching the end of the original 5) and then a 3rd time drops them to 2 months or something.
Stardust 2?
The Kevin Smith Green Hornet film (dunno if we're counting him as truly a superhero or just superhero adjacent)
How about the Guillermo Del Toro & James Cameron In the Mountains of Madness film that keeps being kicked around Hollywood studios at present but no-one will actually green light?
Second that, if the government is paying for your mistake, the government owns it. Likewise, if your company needs a bail-out from the government, tough, but it can get bought out instead.