Worries Grow That More DC Movies Will Be Canceled
The reported cancelation of HBO Max’s Batgirl movie after it had already been planned, written, shot, and largely edited — supposedly it had already been test-screened — has sent shockwaves through the film industry. The reported budget on the movie was $75 million, with $15 million more spent on top of that after costs rose due to Covid. And Warner Bros. new leadership is just putting the title on the shelf.
(News reports claim the main reason is not the movie’s quality but it’s mid-size budget — yes, it is insane that $90 million counts as a mid-size budget, but that’s a discussion for another time — which made it not quite big enough to release in theaters. It apparently makes more financial sense to the company to bury the film and take a tax write-off than to debut it on the HBO Max streaming service which was the original plan.)
But Batgirl is far from the only DC Comics project that had been in development at HBO Max. At least one had already been shot: Blue Beetle, starring Cobra Kai’s Xolo Maridueña as the title character. Another, was discussed last summer — Jurnee Smollett was expected to reprise her role as Black Canary from the Birds of Prey movie in her own solo film. HBO Max was also developing multiple television shows spun off from the recent reboot of The Batman, including a series about Colin Farrell’s Penguin, and another set at Gotham City’s prison for super-criminals, Arkham Asylum.
So far, there’s no confirmation of the state of these projects, which is making some fans extremely nervous. For example:
Meanwhile, Warner Bros. still hasn’t announced any updates about The Flash, which is a massive tentpole film with a massively controversial star, Ezra Miller, who can’t seem to stay out of trouble. Experts have insisted the film cost Warners far too much money to simply shelve it. But they’re shelving a nearly $100 movie in Batgirl. So who knows what happens next? Expect more news on these projects one way or another soon.