Does Warner Bros Tossing $90 Million In the Garbage to Kill 'Batgirl' Mean Its Turning a Cultural Corner?
Quote:Warner Bros is taking a new direction for its content and the new “Batgirl” movie didn’t fit in with this new and improved image. So they’re scrapping it.
The interesting thing is that this movie wasn’t in its early stages of production. It wasn’t even mid-production. This was a finished film that cost the studio $70 million to make. Moreover, they aren’t just not releasing it in theaters. They’re also refusing to release it on HBO Max as well according to Deadline:
Even though Batgirl is in the final stages of post-production, Deadline has confirmed that Warner Bros. and DC Films will not be releasing the movie on any platform, including theatrically.
This falls in line with the mandate put down by the new WB regime to cut back on the feature films premiering on the streamer and deciding which films will be released theatrically and which will be shelved, and sources close to the project say word came down this week that Batgirl did not make the cut.
Ttest audiences did not like the movie according to New York Post, with one description of the movie being “unspeakable”:
The reportedly $70 million movie (the source said the budget was actually more than $100 million), which was doing test screenings for audiences in anticipation of a late 2022 debut, would rank among the most expensive cinematic castoffs ever.
Those tests were said to be so poorly received by moviegoers that the studio decided to cut its losses and run, for the sake of the brand’s future. It’s a DC disaster.
“They think an unspeakable ‘Batgirl’ is going to be irredeemable,” the source said.
What made it so bad? At this point, we’ll never know for sure, but we can guess based on some clues. The new Warner Bros. is apparently trying to step away from woke content as it’s proved absolutely destructive to their franchises. CNN, for instance, is one of the brands it has decided needs a massive makeover, saying that it’s going to begin pulling it away from hard-left commentary and back into a steady stream of middle-of-the-road news. We’ll believe it when we see it.
Moreover, it would appear the focus wants to be put more on big theatrical releases and Batgirl just isn’t fitting that mold. If it’s doing that badly with test audiences, it’s not going to create the groundswell for sequels. To be sure, this was meant to create that kind of groundswell. Michael Keaton was supposed to return as Batman, and Brendan Frasier was to play the villain.
It’s likely that the movie made the same mistake many movies have made nowadays, especially Marvel. Disney/Marvel has sent the MCU down a woke path, a path that is largely causing audiences to slowly meander away and view their superhero universe as a “take it or leave it” kind of franchise.
If the new heads of Warner Bros are smart, they’ll see Disney bleeding out and narrow down the reason as to why.
If WB scrapped an entire $70 million that was more or less ready to go, then something must have really scared them away from it. I don’t just mean a bad movie, I mean a movie that could damage the entire brand, and nothing damages brands quite like wokeness does.
Perhaps a script leak will give us more info in the future, but if suspicions are correct, then WB just threw woke nonsense into the garbage to avoid people walking away from future releases where they would suspect they’d get more of the same.
Whoever put out that stupid ass "She-Hulk" needs to scrap it also.
(08-03-2022 03:14 PM)CrimsonPhantom Wrote: [ -> ]Does Warner Bros Tossing $90 Million In the Garbage to Kill 'Batgirl' Mean Its Turning a Cultural Corner?
Quote:Warner Bros is taking a new direction for its content and the new “Batgirl” movie didn’t fit in with this new and improved image. So they’re scrapping it.
The interesting thing is that this movie wasn’t in its early stages of production. It wasn’t even mid-production. This was a finished film that cost the studio $70 million to make. Moreover, they aren’t just not releasing it in theaters. They’re also refusing to release it on HBO Max as well according to Deadline:
Even though Batgirl is in the final stages of post-production, Deadline has confirmed that Warner Bros. and DC Films will not be releasing the movie on any platform, including theatrically.
This falls in line with the mandate put down by the new WB regime to cut back on the feature films premiering on the streamer and deciding which films will be released theatrically and which will be shelved, and sources close to the project say word came down this week that Batgirl did not make the cut.
Ttest audiences did not like the movie according to New York Post, with one description of the movie being “unspeakable”:
The reportedly $70 million movie (the source said the budget was actually more than $100 million), which was doing test screenings for audiences in anticipation of a late 2022 debut, would rank among the most expensive cinematic castoffs ever.
Those tests were said to be so poorly received by moviegoers that the studio decided to cut its losses and run, for the sake of the brand’s future. It’s a DC disaster.
“They think an unspeakable ‘Batgirl’ is going to be irredeemable,” the source said.
What made it so bad? At this point, we’ll never know for sure, but we can guess based on some clues. The new Warner Bros. is apparently trying to step away from woke content as it’s proved absolutely destructive to their franchises. CNN, for instance, is one of the brands it has decided needs a massive makeover, saying that it’s going to begin pulling it away from hard-left commentary and back into a steady stream of middle-of-the-road news. We’ll believe it when we see it.
Moreover, it would appear the focus wants to be put more on big theatrical releases and Batgirl just isn’t fitting that mold. If it’s doing that badly with test audiences, it’s not going to create the groundswell for sequels. To be sure, this was meant to create that kind of groundswell. Michael Keaton was supposed to return as Batman, and Brendan Frasier was to play the villain.
It’s likely that the movie made the same mistake many movies have made nowadays, especially Marvel. Disney/Marvel has sent the MCU down a woke path, a path that is largely causing audiences to slowly meander away and view their superhero universe as a “take it or leave it” kind of franchise.
If the new heads of Warner Bros are smart, they’ll see Disney bleeding out and narrow down the reason as to why.
If WB scrapped an entire $70 million that was more or less ready to go, then something must have really scared them away from it. I don’t just mean a bad movie, I mean a movie that could damage the entire brand, and nothing damages brands quite like wokeness does.
Perhaps a script leak will give us more info in the future, but if suspicions are correct, then WB just threw woke nonsense into the garbage to avoid people walking away from future releases where they would suspect they’d get more of the same.
Thats pretty bad. With 70 million invested----one would think a recut---including even a partial limited reshoot (which can accomplish a lot when paired with digital tech these days)---could salvage the 70 million dollar investment. It had to be so preachy and woke that there simply wasnt enough salvageable footage to make a viable "normal" fun super hero movie. That tells me the movie was built on virtually nothing more than stale woke preaching---and was bereft of any real story line without it.
That said----bailing out may have nothing to do with wokeness. Birds of Prey wasnt really woke---it was just bad. Even with Margot Robbie to look at----it was still so bad I tapped out before it was over.
I like the character of Batgirl but this would've been woke as ****. Have heard bad things about the Supergirl & Batwoman TV shows (they had to cancel the Batwoman show). The Harley Quinn movie from a couple years ago w/ Margot Robbie was same way & a bomb
Why didn't they figure this out before they got to the end of production? Did nobody read the script?
(08-03-2022 03:29 PM)TripleA Wrote: [ -> ]Why didn't they figure this out before they got to the end of production? Did nobody read the script?
If its wokeness----the screenplay was probably read when "woke" was still considered "hot" among the Hollywood elite. But, like I said before---they made Birds of Prey---and that crap was horrible.
(08-03-2022 03:29 PM)TripleA Wrote: [ -> ]Why didn't they figure this out before they got to the end of production? Did nobody read the script?
I think there's been a couple shakeups at WB.
Plus (gonna get nerdy): WB has a couple DC superhero movies lined up that are big having production troubles w/ lots of reshoots & cast issues. The Amber Heard thing for the Aquaman movie coming up, & Ezra Miller being a child groomer for the Flash movie coming up. Both movies filmings were also hit by COVID. They're having a lot of problems & I think they just said 'we can't make a political statement movie too that's gonna alienate 1/2 of consumers.' Maybe when you're making bank you can put out one or 2 woke nonsense bombs, but not when your whole lineup is facing trouble.
Maybe something is going to come out in the news that one of the stars of the movie did some horrible sex crimes or something and they simply don’t want to have put out a movie with their name in it with that person in it.
To me, it’s more likely something catastrophic level than Hollywood getting any kind of common sense. It must have become absolutely toxic somehow.
(08-03-2022 03:37 PM)Bronco14 Wrote: [ -> ] (08-03-2022 03:29 PM)TripleA Wrote: [ -> ]Why didn't they figure this out before they got to the end of production? Did nobody read the script?
I think there's been a couple shakeups at WB.
Plus (gonna get nerdy): WB has a couple DC superhero movies lined up that are big having production troubles w/ lots of reshoots & cast issues. The Amber Heard thing for the Aquaman movie coming up, & Ezra Miller being a child groomer for the Flash movie coming up. Both movies filmings were also hit by COVID. They're having a lot of problems & I think they just said 'we can't make a political statement movie too that's gonna alienate 1/2 of consumers.' Maybe when you're making bank you can put out one or 2 woke nonsense bombs, but not when your whole lineup is facing trouble.
Amber Turd really stepped in it.
"Everything woke turns to ****"
This spring's Batman movie also underperformed. Should've hit a $1 billion worldwide but way below. I thought it was okay, a little too long for me, plus some political jabs I disliked. Lot of trouble at WB.
(08-03-2022 03:25 PM)Attackcoog Wrote: [ -> ]Thats pretty bad. With 70 million invested----one would think a recut---including even a partial limited reshoot (which can accomplish a lot when paired with digital tech these days)---could salvage the 70 million dollar investment. It had to be so preachy and woke that there simply wasnt enough salvageable footage to make a viable "normal" fun super hero movie. That tells me the movie was built on virtually nothing more than stale woke preaching---and was bereft of any real story line without it.
That said----bailing out may have nothing to do with wokeness. Birds of Prey wasnt really woke---it was just bad. Even with Margot Robbie to look at----it was still so bad I tapped out before it was over.
DC is a multibillion dollar brand. A film release that destroys the brand image would lose way more than $70 million in brand value.
As an example: Star Wars Episode 8 was a piece of donkey dung. It earned $1.3 billion, but it was so bad that audiences stayed home for the next Star Wars movie. The next movie in the franchise (the Han Solo prequel) was actually pretty decent, but it only earned $392 million because audiences no longer trusted the brand. The damage from Episode 8 was so bad that the next two spinoff movies were delayed indefinitely.
If they had cut their losses early on Episode 8, the Solo movie would have been a billion-dollar movie, and they could have continued releasing movies.
I had to look it up because they are doing some bizarre things with even removing films that have already been released. This is actually a pretty smart business move for things that have tanked or you know will tank
Quote:Indiewire adds, “The content being targeted for removal tends to be shows and movies that are not performing on the service but have an opportunity for a partial write off.”
“Content costs can be amortized — or assigned a cost that gets recognized by an entity across multiple years — over the program or film’s expected lifetime. If years on that timeline remain, a company can remove that asset from distribution and use its remaining cost balance to offset taxable income elsewhere,” the website’s report further explains and clarifies.
(08-04-2022 04:34 PM)bobdizole Wrote: [ -> ]I had to look it up because they are doing some bizarre things with even removing films that have already been released. This is actually a pretty smart business move for things that have tanked or you know will tank
Quote:Indiewire adds, “The content being targeted for removal tends to be shows and movies that are not performing on the service but have an opportunity for a partial write off.”
“Content costs can be amortized — or assigned a cost that gets recognized by an entity across multiple years — over the program or film’s expected lifetime. If years on that timeline remain, a company can remove that asset from distribution and use its remaining cost balance to offset taxable income elsewhere,” the website’s report further explains and clarifies.
But but but…. The rich paying their fair share!
(08-04-2022 10:25 AM)Captain Bearcat Wrote: [ -> ] (08-03-2022 03:25 PM)Attackcoog Wrote: [ -> ]Thats pretty bad. With 70 million invested----one would think a recut---including even a partial limited reshoot (which can accomplish a lot when paired with digital tech these days)---could salvage the 70 million dollar investment. It had to be so preachy and woke that there simply wasnt enough salvageable footage to make a viable "normal" fun super hero movie. That tells me the movie was built on virtually nothing more than stale woke preaching---and was bereft of any real story line without it.
That said----bailing out may have nothing to do with wokeness. Birds of Prey wasnt really woke---it was just bad. Even with Margot Robbie to look at----it was still so bad I tapped out before it was over.
DC is a multibillion dollar brand. A film release that destroys the brand image would lose way more than $70 million in brand value.
As an example: Star Wars Episode 8 was a piece of donkey dung. It earned $1.3 billion, but it was so bad that audiences stayed home for the next Star Wars movie. The next movie in the franchise (the Han Solo prequel) was actually pretty decent, but it only earned $392 million because audiences no longer trusted the brand. The damage from Episode 8 was so bad that the next two spinoff movies were delayed indefinitely.
If they had cut their losses early on Episode 8, the Solo movie would have been a billion-dollar movie, and they could have continued releasing movies.
Thats a good point.