Do you understand that their source could be lying to them for PR purposes, or is this going over your head?
It's incredibly rare for the Hollywood Trades to report false information, and each outlet has their own exclusive sources that they use. Trying to dismiss the corroborated reporting of all 3 of the outlets I mentioned as being derived from 'PR speak' is certainly a choice, particularly given their established journalistic pedigree.
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-news/batgirl-hbo-max-movie-dc-canceled-1235191932/ Michael Keaton filmed a scene for ‘AQUAMAN AND THE LOST KINGDOM’ but test audiences found it confusing. It is likely that Ben Affleck has replaced Keaton for that scene in reshoots.
Remember that time Michael Keaton almost came back as Batman, they made movies, cameos and crossovers but systematically deleted and buried all of it? He's essentially been erased from the multiverse.
DC seems to be satisfied with the $23 million for Super Pets. I wonder how they can possibly get their investment back on it though...
I'm more and more convinced that any recent good DC super hero movies were made very much despite WB.
Always missing the point: since DC finally began to aggressively market their IPs in the 1960's, by the following decade, they understood that merchandising and adaptations were the lifeblood of the company, not the comics, which never captured the kind of numbers of toys, movies and TV series. So for the current site to treat the comic division as a supportive entity is simply no revelation. Its business as usual in the way the parent company (across several changed or merged hands) has viewed DC as a publisher. Yawn. All pathological hatred of Snyder aside, some do not see the shelving of Batgirl, Blue Beetle, etc., as the end of DC adaptations. That's absurd. They have never been viewed by the public, so all of the histrionics about this--as if some guaranteed great, new chapter of DC films has been lost--is nonsensical at this point. Movies are shelved, productions suspended with regularity. At the end of it all, this is no different. Oh, why bother? Some are determined to ignore the reality of business and scream in the streets about this as if a crime has been committed.
I was being called out for 'buying into PR speak ' and wanted to be crystal clear as to what I was citing, which, as I noted, has nothing to do with PR and everything to do with independent reporting from the Hollywood Trades.
points to everything Zaslav has done The whole process is a shambolic hostile mess so I'm hostile in return. I don't think the Batgirl film was likely to be a particular high point although the enthusiasm of everybody involved was delightful. But it's a particularly stark example of the vulture capitalist that Zaslav seems to be, happily gutting away and how little he seems to give a damn about people. Not to mention pulling various other movies and shows entirely from viewership, cutting 70% of the HBO Max staff, potentially shutting down HBO Max in favor of the vastly smaller service, prioritizing el cheapo "reality" content... Pulling some content entirely from being able to be viewed is particularly galling. What a nasty move and all in the name of tax write-offs. The whole point of streaming was supposed to be easy accessibility at any time and any place and now we're going more broadly to the Disney-style vault because the plebs aren't as important as $10 off the tax bill? And it may not apparently be the overriding priority but given that Batgirl and Supergirl are cancelled while that violent creep Ezra Miller still gets a movie to come out I'm going to stick with "misogyny."
Well today at 430 EST is the investors call. Whatever is said will be gussied up but at least it should contain some real info.
The commentary I'm seeing on social media, including from some industry professionals, seems to be in agreement with you. For instance: https://twitter.com/MuseZack/status/1554910344975224833 I'd be inclined to think you might be right, except that Miller is non-binary. Although the character they're playing in the movie identifies as male.
You know, it occurred to me that this isn't the first time Warner Brothers has shelved a completed movie. I just remembered they did the same thing with 'The Exorcist' prequel back in the early 2000s. They shelved the first version, then brought in a new director to shoot a new version. The first version I think eventually got released as part of a DVD combo pack along with the remake.
Oh wow the Boeing-McDonnell Douglas merger is a fantastic comparison so far. And yeah given the gender of Barry it works.
I'm still on the side that says this is mercurial capitalism but institutional racism/sexism is not a new accusation against the WBD merger and very well may have played a part. The entire board is now only middle aged white men, the C suite is almost entirely middle aged white men, and they fired the only woman in a position of major power. Virtually every major hire has been middle aged white men. Zaslav is on record as saying he doesn't have an interest in diversity, it is not a priority for him or his regime. Edit:. This is the article I was remembering https://www.bloomberg.com/news/arti...discovery-leadership-draws-ire-over-diversity
Sure, you hear about this often enough. But not to the extent like this. Not even close. 8 filmed movies (and growing?) removed in a week? This is VERY different from other times
But that's entirely different. That's a case of a movie being shelved for creative reasons and the project being restarted from scratch to get a satisfactory result. So the project itself was not abandoned; it simply got a 100 percent reshoot. That's just something that happens sometimes, like when a TV pilot is rejected and the network orders a new one. This is a case of the entire project being abandoned permanently as a tax dodge, with its quality not being a factor at all. It's not restarting the project in hopes of making it better, it's just throwing it away altogether and not giving a damn if it was any good or not. No reason it can't be both. Those do tend to go together. "Not having an interest in diversity" = "committed to maintaining institutional inequality." This guy sounds worse and worse with every new thing I learn about him. I fear for the future of Warner Bros. and DC with him in charge.
I’m not sure any of us truly understand the economics of the business unless we were in the c suite or their finance departments. I’m GUESSING that this may have been a highly leveraged merger, meaning they owe mucho dinero to the banks at high interest rates. So lots of financial pressure on the board. Sunk costs : Looking at their portfolio of movies and where they are in the launch process and a critical eye towards the remaining $ to launch, marketing etc. vs. expected returns, one could easily see where products are abandoned… particularly when a tax write off would exceed the potential profit estimate. Other movies may have a different economic formula due to the factors above. We don’t know, we can only guess. layoffs: it always seems to be part of any merger. Duplication of depts and Overlapping depts skill sets. The basic idea of a merger is to increase efficiency by reduction of redundancy. This, in real life however, means folks loose jobs which totally sucks. diversity comment: just looking at the composition of a B.O.D. is , in essence, expecting to see certain rations or quotas. Always a dangerous path. As for the comment that diversity isn’t a priority, one can look at it from the pure market based capitalist perspective and it’s not as “offensive” a comment, he’s merely stating for investors that profit is his priority. He will still green light product that is profitable. If “woke” movies make money you can bet that they will make as many as the market can bear. Conversely, if their best return on investment are schlocky reality shows then that’s what you can expect to see. Canary in the coal mine: I’m interested to see if this is the first of similar belt tightening in the entertainment industry due to changing economic conditions.
Gaga confirmed for Joker 2 https://twitter.com/ladygaga/status/1555222357882458114?t=GbaPvZ92nOCzpyRr5shnCw&s=19