Batgirl movie cancelled

[thunderbolt]

They are doing away with scripted tv shows on HBO Max too.

[Megotastrophe]

Batgirl shelved...Ezra Miller with a greenlight. Did I land on Bizarro Earth again?

[monitor_ep]

It sounds like we are going to get hit with lots of Batman & Superman movies and watch some of them be from the multiverse/elseworlds.

[powersthatbe]

Now there's a rumor that's execs want to screen Blue Beetle and then decide if it should move forward. I am legitimately p**d over this and angry at the higher ups of Warners. If you are so burdened with creating movies for thses characters sell them to someone who loves and respects the property like a kevin feige or a jon Favreau

[Jorge Galvan]

Well at least it wasn't Bette Kane.

🙄

[thunderbolt]

Just do a reset and put Bruce Timm in charge. Someone that gets the characters. Unlike Snyder who obviously did not.

[MIB41]

It's not often that a studio outright tells the public what they're doing internally if upper management doesn't agree with the direction of a project. Of course you get plenty of "insider" rumors, but seldom is there a time when the studio validates them, let alone releases a statement saying they're taking a tax write off from an initial test screening.

After the events that led to the Snyder cut of Justice League, one has to wonder if they're not borrowing from that playbook again to drum up support for Batgirl. Maybe they don't believe it's a viable product through a traditional release. But if they can generate enough demand for it, perhaps that will make up the difference? I wouldn't count this movie out just yet. Watch the fanbase start a campaign to have it released and you can bank the WB brass will sit back and wait for the noise to get loud enough until they feel comfortable releasing it. Then if its not liked, they can blame the fans. LOL

Flash is an entirely different beast. The studio has some serious money invested in this project. And with Ezra completely checked out, their options are less inviting. Personally I think the longer they wait, the more they devalue the project. Now its delay is sharing the conversation with Batgirl being shelved. If Ezra makes new headlines, the movie becomes its own spectacle (and for all the wrong reasons). If I were in their shoes, I would have gotten it out with the summer crop of films this year, because Ezra is not as well known to the general public as other actors in this genre. I doubt those news items could have killed the buzz on the movie, if it was a descent film. WB is certainly not helping themselves by continuing their tradition as a company that does not believe in it's superheroes.

[Earth 2 Chris]

^I thought about that too Tom. That maybe WB was trying to generate a new #releasetheSnyderCut-like campagin. But Rolling Stone recently released an article that there is strong evidence to suggest a good chunk of the support for the Snyder Cut was actually just bots, and not actual people interested in it. Sure, there was a rabid (and often very unsavory) fanbase, but their numbers may have been inflated by some techno-tomfoolery. The article doesn't come out and say it, but if you read between the lines, some are wondering if Snyder himself wasn't partially behind it.

https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-features/justice-league-the-snyder-cut-bots-fans-1384231/

So...I'm not sure WB wants ANYTHING to do with that kind of campaign again. They could possibly feel used and coerced into dumping money into a film that already tanked once. Rolling Stone is now speculating Batgirl may have been killed partially because it is connected to the Snyder-verse through J.K. Simmons' Commissioner Gordon, and they want to distance themselves from that version of the DCEU. And in that article they do say the movie tested badly, so I guess that part is indeed likely true, and not just speculation.

https://au.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/batgirl-shelved-warner-bros-42114/

Chris

[MIB41]

^I thought about that too Tom. That maybe WB was trying to generate a new #releasetheSnyderCut-like campagin. But Rolling Stone recently released an article that there is strong evidence to suggest a good chunk of the support for the Snyder Cut was actually just bots, and not actual people interested in it. Sure, there was a rabid (and often very unsavory) fanbase, but their numbers may have been inflated by some techno-tomfoolery. The article doesn't come out and say it, but if you read between the lines, some are wondering if Snyder himself wasn't partially behind it.

https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-features/justice-league-the-snyder-cut-bots-fans-1384231/

So...I'm not sure WB wants ANYTHING to do with that kind of campaign again. They could possibly feel used and coerced into dumping money into a film that already tanked once. Rolling Stone is now speculating Batgirl may have been killed partially because it is connected to the Snyder-verse through J.K. Simmons' Commissioner Gordon, and they want to distance themselves from that version of the DCEU. And in that article they do say the movie tested badly, so I guess that part is indeed likely true, and not just speculation.

https://au.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/batgirl-shelved-warner-bros-42114/

Chris

I think the bot evaluation would carry more weight had the project tanked. But every indication is the Snyder cut was immensely successful even with physical media. Its first week of release that movie was responsible for 38% of all sales revenue, 37% of total blu ray sales, and 27% of pure DVD sales. So even if bots were a player, it had an impact on public perception which certainly catered to that bottom-line. I don't doubt for a minute that MOST online campaigns for any movement are manipulated and seldom come from an organic space. But if you can get the public's attention for five minutes, they seem to sadly believe anything.

So what the Snyder cut did is establish a precedence by suggesting a movement, which the public bought into and created a new revenue stream for the studio. Whether WB goes to that extreme with Batgirl remains to be seen. But with the Snyder cut example still fresh in the public's eye, I wouldn't consider it too far fetched for the studio to play the "bad guy" to see if the fan/bot reaction is loud enough to build interest from the public. They have nothing to lose should it not take hold, but every indication is they're getting the attention to that announcement that any reasonable person would have expected. It will be interesting to watch. Thanks for those articles Chris!

[Earth 2 Chris]

^Good points Tom. It will be interesting to see how this story evolves, and what is thought of it a few years from now even.

[sprytel]

I think the bot evaluation would carry more weight had the project tanked. But every indication is the Snyder cut was immensely successful even with physical media. Its first week of release that movie was responsible for 38% of all sales revenue, 37% of total blu ray sales, and 27% of pure DVD sales. So even if bots were a player, it had an impact on public perception which certainly catered to that bottom-line. I don't doubt for a minute that MOST online campaigns for any movement are manipulated and seldom come from an organic space. But if you can get the public's attention for five minutes, they seem to sadly believe anything.

So what the Snyder cut did is establish a precedence by suggesting a movement, which the public bought into and created a new revenue stream for the studio. Whether WB goes to that extreme with Batgirl remains to be seen. But with the Snyder cut example still fresh in the public's eye, I wouldn't consider it too far fetched for the studio to play the "bad guy" to see if the fan/bot reaction is loud enough to build interest from the public. They have nothing to lose should it not take hold, but every indication is they're getting the attention to that announcement that any reasonable person would have expected. It will be interesting to watch. Thanks for those articles Chris!

Outside of my area of expertise... but I saw someone mention that if Warner Bros actually takes a tax write-off for the movie (as reported), they will never be able to release it in the future.

[Goblin19]

Correct. They cannot make money off of it, so they couldn’t even sell the rights.

The more I read about what’s going on, it does seem they are using this strategy on multiple titles, including unceremoniously pulling HBO Max exclusive titles from their own site. Also cancelling House Party remake which was supposed to have released this past week.

Best guess now is that new execs are indeed trying to start with a clean slate.

[Earth 2 Chris]

Makes you wonder if WB isn't just throwing in the towel on having its own streaming service. They scuttled that aspect of the DC Universe app, during the previous regime.

[thunderbolt]

The Green Lantern series is cancelled too. Wondering if the DCU is going to be on the market soon and they are just killing projects in the works.

[Wee67]

Makes you wonder if WB isn't just throwing in the towel on having its own streaming service. They scuttled that aspect of the DC Universe app, during the previous regime.

Long-time listener, first-time caller... to this thread, anyway.

I read an article in one of the trades today that lays the blame of a lot of these things on the merger. There is talk that Warner Brothers Discovery will, indeed, ditch HBO Max. Apparently, it was the execs at Discovery who got to lead the merged company and they are trying to move away from the big budget, original programming HBO has come to be known for. It's hard for me to believe they would choose Love It Or List It over Game of Thrones, but that's what this article is suggesting. With ore and more people cutting the cord, OTT streaming services are the only way to reach many customers.