DCEU Meltdown (Batgirl Shelved Indefinitely!)

Tagged: batgirl, DCEU, discovery, flash won't release either, Michael Keaton, WB

This topic has 23 replies, 8 voices, and was last updated 1 year, 8 months ago by DragonLady.

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August 2, 2022 at 7:28 pm #277752
xdax
https://variety.com/2022/film/news/batgirl-not-released-warner-bros-hbo-max-1235331897/

“Batgirl,” the feature film adaptation of the DC Comics character, has been killed at Warner Bros., Variety has confirmed. It will not premiere on any platform at the studio — neither theatrically nor on HBO Max.

The production — starring Leslie Grace as Barbara Gordon (aka Batgirl) and directed by “Bad Boys for Life” and “Ms. Marvel” filmmakers Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah — was greenlit in 2021 as part of a company-wide effort at Warner Bros. to create feature films specifically for HBO Max. But the new corporate regime at Warner Bros. Discovery has pivoted the company’s priorities back to theatrical features, leaving “Batgirl” without a proper home.

Batman & Robin got a theatrical release. Catwoman got a theatrical release. Zack Snyder’s Justice League even got a theatrical release. How does a finished product just get scrapped?

Thread title left open as even more cancellations are expected this week.
August 2, 2022 at 7:56 pm #277754
DarthVengeant
Premium
It’s not a Meltdown. David Zaslav is doing what must be done. These twitter tantrum people aren’t going to like his non woke strategy. Well throw a pity part for them and shut up. That non woke strategy will get Warner back on track financially. Wokeism is not profitable, that has been proven time and time again. The Batgirl movie was not going to be profitable, we saw that coming.

Disney is next. They are going to have to stop the wokeism. They have pushed hard, but it has failed.

Agendas and indoctrination don’t sell. Escapism with good story and characters sells. Sex sells. Period.
August 2, 2022 at 9:08 pm #277762
xdax
DC League of Super-Pets got a theatrical release. Josh Trank’s Fant4stic got a theatrical release. Morbius got a theatrical release and a theatrical rerelease.

The logic that this cancellation was politically motivated fails on the premise that all those in the business fall under the same political banner. They won’t clean their own house up unless one of their own is truly irredeemable, which brings my thoughts squarely towards The Flash and its troubled star.
August 3, 2022 at 6:46 am #277783
DragonLady
From what I’ve heard, people at the Batgirl screenings were saying that this film was very bad and that might be another reason why this is getting shelved. I admit that I had a small interest in it (despite the biker outfit). Hopefully next on the chopping block is The Flash film.
August 3, 2022 at 8:08 am #277784
Vknid
Moderator
@DragonLady

Wait, do companies make films and choose to not show them even after they spent all the money on them? If that’s the case I did not know that was even a thing.
August 3, 2022 at 8:54 am #277785
Legatus_Legionis
It is definitely NOT the first movie to be indefinitely shelved. We had Captain America in the 1990’s, as was a Fantastic Four film in 1994.

When a product is SO bad, it is sometimes better to NOT release it as the negative PR it would generate would tarnish the brand and reputation of the studio.

Have fans talking about Billion dollar successful movies, fun movies, fans being once again excited for a DC film.

They fear (and rightly so), that if this Batgirl films BOMBS as badly as it did in the screen tests, it would be a decade or more before they could recover.

Go Woke, Go Broke.

Well, we finally have someone who is saying, “Enough! Time to make money!”
August 3, 2022 at 9:26 am #277786
Vknid
Moderator
So they will intentionally set millions on fire to save reputation? I did not know it worked like that considering the many bad movies that have been put out.
August 3, 2022 at 10:04 am #277787
DigiCat
Moderator
Wait, do companies make films and choose to not show them even after they spent all the money on them? If that’s the case I did not know that was even a thing.

Yes @Vknid, that’s a thing
August 3, 2022 at 10:20 am #277789
xdax
The movie is complete; releasing it at this point would only make them money. I somehow doubt that Batgirl has the cultural weight to taint the DCEU more than something like Birds of Prey.

WB could have quietly dumped it into a January release with zero promotion and may have broken even, but they swallowed their pride instead and let their production face the ignominy of being in history books next to The Day the Clown Cried and Leonard Part 6. This business decision only makes sense if WB is planning on scrapping The Flash as well.
August 3, 2022 at 12:57 pm #277819
Vknid
Moderator
I cannot imagine this goes well for the directors of such a stink bomb?

Hi Mr. Director, thanks for setting 100 million dollars on fire.
August 3, 2022 at 9:18 pm #277859
Hazu
they just dont have the money, like marvel (disney) does.

marvel can afford to launch garbage movies like eternals and even make a sequel lmao they get more money from ads and political tweets than from the box office. DC don’t have that power.
August 4, 2022 at 3:06 am #277878
DragonLady
@Vknid

As Legatus_Legionis has said, it’s not the first time it’s happened. Marvel did Fantastic 4, Captain America and X-Men films in the 90’s and they were never released. I actually thought the 90’s Captain America film wasn’t too bad even though I hated how they did the Red Skull. Although I admit to liking the soundtrack for it. At least Banshee had a Irish accent on that version of X-Men compared to Banshee on ‘First Class’ (I did enjoy ‘First Class’ but I didn’t like the fact that he didn’t have his trademarked Irish accent on that film btw). I can’t comment on the F4 film from the 90’s as I’ve not seen it.
- This reply was modified 1 year, 8 months ago by DragonLady.
August 4, 2022 at 9:20 pm #277947
Wisdom
I wonder if they will cancel the Flash as well. No matter how bad Batgirl is, there’s no way it can harm DC’s image more than Ezra Miller at this point.
Sucks for Keaton, if both his return performances as Batman are canned.

Completely canceling the film also will be tough to explain to shareholders. Unless it’s a tax write off.

It’s also really disrespectful towards the cast and crew who worked on it. Yes, maybe the movie is terrible, most likely writers and directors fucked up.
But there’s hardly a film that couldn’t be saved with good editing and a handful of dialogue reshoots.
- This reply was modified 1 year, 8 months ago by Wisdom.
August 5, 2022 at 10:26 am #277989
Legatus_Legionis
Completely canceling the film also will be tough to explain to shareholders. Unless it’s a tax write off.

That is what I heard they are getting from cancelling Batgirl… a tax write off.
August 5, 2022 at 1:18 pm #278006
DragonLady
Meanwhile over at Disney/Marvel they’ve just greenlit ‘Eternals 2’ even though the first one was a box office bomb. I guess they didn’t learn their lesson.
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