Henadic Theologian
Legend
It's sucks, I feel bad for those involved, I hear the Directors were good fellows who did Bad Boys 3.
I don't know what went wrong.
I don't know what went wrong.
Batgirl movie cancelled
- Thread starter Henadic Theologian
- Start date
R_J_K75
Legend
I read earlier it was over budget and the studio felt they'd never make their money back or even close, so they decided to cut their losses. I read the movie was finished so I'm assuming that means post-production too but not sure. Something seems odd because if they released it in theaters and on HBO Max they'd at least make some money back I'd think.
billd91
Not your screen monkey (he/him) 🇺🇦🇵🇸🏳️⚧️
There's some coverage here: The Dish: What’s Behind The ‘Batgirl’ & ‘Scoob!’ Discard? David Zaslav’s Abject Rejection Of Jason Kilar’s HBO Max Strategy
Basically, it comes mainly down to 2 reasons:
1) The current regime in charge wants to repudiate the outgoing regime's strategy of putting things out on HBO's streaming service
2) Because of the recent merger, they have an opportunity to shed some projects for advantageous tax write offs they apparently can't get or won't be as sweet if they try to make some of their money back by completing the projects. This applies to both Batgirl, which is still in post-production, and Scoob. This opportunity expires in a couple of weeks.
Basically, it comes mainly down to 2 reasons:
1) The current regime in charge wants to repudiate the outgoing regime's strategy of putting things out on HBO's streaming service
2) Because of the recent merger, they have an opportunity to shed some projects for advantageous tax write offs they apparently can't get or won't be as sweet if they try to make some of their money back by completing the projects. This applies to both Batgirl, which is still in post-production, and Scoob. This opportunity expires in a couple of weeks.
John R Davis
Hero
I thought the preview reviews were not good
R_J_K75
Legend
By whose standards though? Some random critics and movie goers? I never pay attention to what these people say. I just think Waner/DC are just mis-managed.
billd91
Not your screen monkey (he/him) 🇺🇦🇵🇸🏳️⚧️
That's the narrative that the New York Post is spinning. The Deadline article contradicts that claim.
Maybe that is a brilliant guerrilla marketing move.
The movie is so bad they'd never get their money back after the first weekend once the people find out. Now the cancel it, has the fans start petitions to get it released, they let them win and then all those fans who participated in the petition will go to see it to savor their win
The movie is so bad they'd never get their money back after the first weekend once the people find out. Now the cancel it, has the fans start petitions to get it released, they let them win and then all those fans who participated in the petition will go to see it to savor their win
Yora
Legend
It's not about being over budget, but about throwing good money after bad.
I've read the movie was already well into editing with some kind of rough cut existing. I don't think the costs for letting the editors finish and getting the thing scored can't be that great compared to th costs of filming. But there's still all the costs for distribution and marketing ahead. If they think the potential profits of the movie are lower than those costs, then cutting the losses now is the reasonable step.
They also need to be concerned about brand reputation. If this movie gets torn to pieces for being awful, it could very well support opinions that the time of superhero movies is at an end and they are now throwing out cheap trash to squeeze the last money out of them before they give up on these movies completely. Even if a release would make the movie break even, it could hurt future ticket sales.
And from what I've read in the past, canning almost complete movies isn't that unusual. Happens all the time, though usually to productions without large numbers of fans anticipating them.
I've read the movie was already well into editing with some kind of rough cut existing. I don't think the costs for letting the editors finish and getting the thing scored can't be that great compared to th costs of filming. But there's still all the costs for distribution and marketing ahead. If they think the potential profits of the movie are lower than those costs, then cutting the losses now is the reasonable step.
They also need to be concerned about brand reputation. If this movie gets torn to pieces for being awful, it could very well support opinions that the time of superhero movies is at an end and they are now throwing out cheap trash to squeeze the last money out of them before they give up on these movies completely. Even if a release would make the movie break even, it could hurt future ticket sales.
And from what I've read in the past, canning almost complete movies isn't that unusual. Happens all the time, though usually to productions without large numbers of fans anticipating them.
There's some very strange rules in the US tax system, if that's the case. I'm sure the intention was not to incentivise NOT releasing films.
Still, Hollywood seems to live in a world of its own when it comes to accounting, since none of the films ever make a profit (hence big stars insisting on a share of the gross, rather than the net). Anywhere else that would be false accounting and/or fraud. So I guess nothing should surprise me.
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