"Batgirl" shelved by Warner Brothers

Discussion in 'Visual Arts' started by Ghostworld, Aug 2, 2022.

  1. misterjones

    misterjones Smarter than the average bear.

    Location:
    New York, NY
    I cannot say whether this is the case with Disney, but I have noticed that new bosses these days feel compelled to piss on everything - fouling it or marking it as their territory - just to “prove” they’re worth the money they are getting. As I said many times when I was working, sometimes the best answer is inside the box.
     
  2. mBen989

    mBen989 Senior Member

    Location:
    Scranton, PA
    Sounds like James T. Aubrey has risen from the grave.
     
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  3. Isaac K.

    Isaac K. Forum Resident

    But her background does make perfect sense as to why she would be bi. Sorry, but for a woman coming from an all woman society and falling for a man… speaking realistically, THAT is the anomaly.
     
  4. misterjones

    misterjones Smarter than the average bear.

    Location:
    New York, NY
    Seriously. Couldn’t someone have concluded it sucked at about the $45 million mark? That it continued suggests to me someone or everyone was afraid to say anything for fear of cancellation.
     
  5. Mirrorblade.1

    Mirrorblade.1 Forum Resident

    They may shelf flashpoint because Erza Millers horrible behavior and arrests and he's on the run
    for other things.. You can search for that..
     
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  6. Isaac K.

    Isaac K. Forum Resident

    I stopped reading comics religiously when I was 16 back in 1990 (picked a few up on a whim only occasionally after that). Most readers age out of them by 30. It is important for the industry to remain current to appeal to newer audiences and comic writers in their 20s to 30s are going to write stories from their perspective. They’re not going to focus on pleasing 60 year old men with archaic beliefs that just won’t let the medium go. Old men screaming at clouds only get ignored.
     
  7. Ken_McAlinden

    Ken_McAlinden MichiGort Staff

    Location:
    Livonia, MI
    Zaslav explicitly expressed enthusiasm for the Flash movie. It is still on track for release. I think it is really just the films produced for streaming that are on the endangered species list.

    Warner Bros. CEO tries to explain why The Flash is great but Batgirl had to die
     
  8. Turnaround

    Turnaround Senior Member

    Location:
    -
    This Reddit link has audio of David Zaslav talking about the future of DC at Warner Bros Discovery's earnings call yesterday. (I also copy the transcript below). This was in response to a question from an investment bank during the Q&A part of the presentation. WBD probably wasn't planning to address this outright, but were prepared to address if asked (if still vague about their future plans).

    https://www.reddit.com/r/DC_Cinemat...io_david_zaslav_talks_about_his_plans_for_dc/

    Operator: Thank you, sir. Your first question will come from Bryan Kraft at Deutsche Bank. Please go ahead.

    Bryan Kraft: Hi, good afternoon. I need to ask two, if I could. I guess, first, David, there is a lot of reporting in the press about some rates being delayed and of course, the canceling of Batgirl. I think that film, in particular, was almost completed. Can you just talk about the reason for decision to cancel Batgirl? What’s the issue? And what’s happening more broadly, Warner Bros. film business, changes you might be making and basically the direction you’re taking with the DC universe? And then just had one for JB on the SaaS product. Is the intent there to offer the SaaS service in Western markets like the U.S. where consumers are accustomed to paying for content or will it be more limited to markets where you’ve got – where you would have a low penetration of paid services and therefore, way of building penetration where you might not otherwise achieve it? Thank you.

    David Zaslav: Great. Thanks, Bryan. Well, let me start with the fact that the Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group has fantastic IP and a great history, as you know, when they are turning 100. And between DC., the animation group together with the entire Warner library, our ambition is to bring Warner back and to produce great high-quality films. And as we look at the opportunities that we have, broadly, DC is one of the top of the list for us. We – when you look at Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman, Aquaman, these are brands that are known everywhere in the world, the ability to drive those all over the world with great story is a big opportunity for us. We have done a reset. We’ve restructured the business where we’re going to focus – where there will be a team with a 10-year plan focusing just on DC. It’s very similar to the structure that Alan Horn and Bob Iger put together very effectively with Kevin Feige at Disney. We think that we could build a long-term, much stronger sustainable growth business out of DC. And as part of that, we’re going to focus on quality. We’re not going to release any film before it’s ready. We’re not going to release a film to make a quarter. We’re not going to release a film under – the focus is going to be how do we make each of these films in general as good as possible. But DC is something that we think we can make better, and we’re focused on it now. We have some great DC films coming up, Black Adam, Shazam and The Flash. And we are working on all of those. We’re very excited about them. We’ve seen them. We think they are terrific, and we think we can make them even better. And that’s what Mike and Pam and the team are doing and focusing on that. Strategically, we’ve looked hard at the director streaming business. We’ve seen luckily by having access now to all the data, how direct-to-streaming movies perform. And our conclusion is that expensive direct-to-streaming movies in terms of how people are consuming them on the platform, how often people go there or buy it or buy a service for it and how it gets nourished over time is no comparison to what happens when you launch a film in the motion – in the theaters. And so this idea of expensive films going direct-to-streaming, we cannot find an economic case for it. We can’t find an economic value for it.

    And so we’re making a strategic shift. As part of that, we’ve been out in the town talking about our commitment to the theatrical exhibition and the theatrical window. A number of movies will be launched with shorter windows. Some might have different kinds of marketing campaigns where we take advantage of us having the biggest platform and a platform that all motion fiction companies look for. But we will always be agile. Our focus will be on theatrical. And when we bring the theatrical films to HBO Max, we find they have substantially more value. And we have an ecosystem where we can have the premier motion picture business. That’s why most people move to Hollywood. That’s why most people got in this business to be on the big screen when the lights went out and that is the magic. And the economic model is much stronger. And the other thing is that we’re going to focus very hard on quality. I said we’re not going to launch a movie until it’s ready. We’re not going to go into movie to make a quarter. And we are not going to release a movie and we’re not going to put a movie out unless we believe in it. And that’s it. I mean, particularly with DC, where we think we want to pivot and we want to elevate and we want to focus.

    Jean-Briac Perrette: And Bryan, on fast, two quick comments. Number one is just a reminder that as we look at that space, the content we’re talking about for – that would be in that kind of a product would be totally different than the content it will be in our premium SVOD offering. So number one, the distinction is totally different and with over 100 titles – episodes across our combined portfolio. There is a lot of content that wouldn’t necessarily make sense in a premium product that might make sense to the fast. The second thing is on market by market, look, that’s part of the assessment that we’re going to – we’re looking at and we will look through over the next few months. And as we have more details of how we think and where we think the opportunity is the richest, we will come back to you and take you through it.

    David Zaslav: Just – the objective is to grow the DC brand, to grow the DC characters, but also our job is to protect the DC brand, and that’s what we’re going to do.

    Bryan Kraft: Thank you.
     
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  9. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
    The Smiling Cobra! Beloved at CBS.
     
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  10. BeatleJWOL

    BeatleJWOL Senior Member

  11. zombie dai

    zombie dai people live in dreams, but not in their own

    bit like, not mentioning names ahh*kathleen kennedy* chooo and star wars, managing, to use your concept, piss away a lot of their credibility
     
  12. Isaac K.

    Isaac K. Forum Resident

    Nobody pissed away Star Wars’ credibility any worse than George Lucas did already.
     
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  13. Strat-Mangler

    Strat-Mangler Personal Survival Daily Record-Breaker

    Location:
    Toronto
    Keaton: "I'm Bat-UUUUGHH!!!!! My hip, my hip! My beautiful hip!"
     
  14. David Campbell

    David Campbell Forum Resident

    Location:
    Luray, Virginia
    I'd say certain Star Wars "fans" trump both George and Kathleen Kennedy in damaging the star wars brand.

     
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  15. David Campbell

    David Campbell Forum Resident

    Location:
    Luray, Virginia
    This was quite shocking to hear about...but looking at things as a whole....shelving this film made sense. I feel bad for the people who worked on it....no one sets out to make a terrible movie...but at the end of the day Warners own this property and if they feel it could potentially damage the brand in the long term, then its their prerogative to exert the power to shelve it.
     
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  16. Vidiot

    Vidiot Now in 4K HDR!

    Location:
    Hollywood, USA
    I think this was far more about the new WB executives not wanting to let anything the previous (fired) executives have any success, even a small one. It's basically an excuse to say, "hey, the stuff the old guys made was so bad, we're not even gonna put it out." So I think it's mostly a vendetta to show they're going in a different direction.

    The same new management is going to combine HBOMax and the Discovery Channel into a single channel, which to me is absolutely bizarre...

    HBO Max and Discovery+: The merging streaming services, explained

    Warner Bros. Discovery Is Making All the Wrong Moves With HBO Max and DC
     
  17. boyjohn

    boyjohn Senior Member

    That is like Morton's merging with Jack in the Box
     
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  18. Solaris

    Solaris a bullet in flight

    Location:
    New Orleans, LA
    I have nothing to add here, but when I scrolled down the Visual Arts page just now I misread this as "Batgirl shaved by Warner Brothers." Guess I'm not awake yet.

    Carry on.
     
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  19. Lightworker

    Lightworker Forum Resident

    Location:
    Deep Texas
    Worth more as a tax write-off I guess.
     
  20. Bluesman Mark

    Bluesman Mark I'm supposed to put something witty here....

    Location:
    Iowa
    :laugh:

    We might as well lock this thread now. This post simply can't be topped!

    You win the interwebz for the day!
    :biglaugh:
     
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  21. beccabear67

    beccabear67 Musical omnivore.

    Location:
    Victoria, Canada
    I stopped reading superhero comics around age 19 or 20 and that seemed pretty late. I was definitely hooked on many from around 12 to then, but they had started killing off or otherwise crippling a lot of female characters and males got more fascistic and muscular and it just got too depressing (or plain ridiculous). Before I left I remember a character in The Defenders comics named 'Cloud' that was basically a cloud, but it would take human form as either male of female, and one of the erstwhile X-Men was getting very confused in having a relationship with them. :laugh:

    [​IMG]
    That was around 1983-84? I guess it went fairly unheralded unlike most modern 'dealing' with 'issues' in superhero comics meant to gain publicity. There was also a male character in Alpha Flight that was suggestively gay around the same time. I went back only recently to see what I may've missed and found myself enjoying a number of superhero comics, there has always been some good stuff if you aren't looking for deathless great literature commenting on the harshest realities, and it is part soap at it's best with supporting cast being very important. I haven't read much dated past 2001 but there seems to be a lot of excellent artists at work, and I hope the medium continues with a large base of younger readers, not just as some collectable object with specimens scrutinized by magnifying lens and ultraviolet light for 'flaws'. I got started with Scamp, Donald Duck and Chip N' Dale, Shazam, Plop and Supergirl, so I'm glad to hear of and see accessible to actual kids stuff, including movies and tv! Safe and welcoming but imaginative and sparking of the imagination, you know? Especially when you're sick in bed for a stretch which is how many who went on to work on them got hooked. R rated superhero comics or movies with excessively explicit violence and graphic sex stuff makes it all look sillier than anything else could, should be seen as an 'underground' small audience thing; keep things on an open to interpretation or suggestion level is my advice and it can be around and healthy a long time. The world of great or 'important' adult literature is always there to be discovered as well anyway! I would go to a Batgirl movie mainly for fun, as might all sorts of viewers, not for the ego of some grand visionary making their mark on the universe. It looked like it would've been!
     
    Last edited: Aug 6, 2022
  22. beccabear67

    beccabear67 Musical omnivore.

    Location:
    Victoria, Canada
    Um, should add that I would have all sexuality mostly up to reader interpretation, where anything can be implied, barring established characters being married I suppose. I find it just isn't the first thing that comes into the mind while reading a superhero comic, but then 'adult superhero' has always felt a bit of an oxymoron to me (same with 'adult funny animal'). When I heard Batgirl was shot in the womb while pregnant in the comics and was in a wheelchair for years it made me fairly sure I'd made a good choice to drop supporting superhero comics. Of course now like so many made suddenly 'undead', or back to original specs... which basically proves comics with codenames, costumes and powers are longterm suited to lighter fantasy.
     
  23. Oatsdad

    Oatsdad Oat, Biscuits, Abbie & Mitzi: Best Dogs Ever

    Location:
    Alexandria VA
    I'd be up for that movie. It'd be hard to beat.
     
  24. boyjohn

    boyjohn Senior Member

    I've never delved much into the Batman thing, but I was playing the Telltale video game Batman: The Enemy Within recently and Batman is kind of flirting with that John Doe guy (if you choose the right options), almost as if they were a couple or something. It was kind of cool actually. Did this actually happen in the comics at some point, or was it just put into the game for an interesting option?
     
  25. Mirrorblade.1

    Mirrorblade.1 Forum Resident

    HBO Max seems to be failure based what seen.. on the web..
    It seems Warner Bros is one the biggest financially mismanaged movie companies..
    Based on past ownership speaks volumes....
    Those golden days are over with..
    I want a Speeding Bullets movie
    Where a what if superman crashed landed in gotham..
    Became a take no prisoners batman.
     

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