What I think is really happening with Batgirl

burrunjor

burrunjor

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I think that this is all a big publicity stunt. Hear me out here.

Now I'm going to give away SPOILERS for the Flash movie that will be out next year, so if you don't want it ruined, look away.

The plot for the 2023 Flash movie is this. Barry Allen goes back to stop his mother being murdered, but along the way he falls into another universe, where the 1989 Batman takes place. (For those of you who don't read the comics or watch the show, the Flash's superspeed can allow him to travel through time and into alternate universes, though doing so is always difficult and he doesn't mean to here.)

In the alternate world, the Flash works with an aged Batman played by Michael Keaton and Supergirl to stop General Zod, which forms the bulk of the movie, after which he goes back to his own universe and causes some small changes in the past. When he returns to the present he discovers Keaton is Batman and Supergirl now exists. It is revealed by Batman that the Flash's actions caused both universes to unravel and bleed into each other, until they eventually became one universe.

Therefore the 89 Batman is now canon to the DCEU rather than Batfleck and there are other changes which will be explored in future films.

This was meant to be a soft reboot to the DCEU that would allow Keaton to take over as Batman since Affleck quit. Keaton's Batman was going to be a Nick Fury type character, IE a grizzled mentor to other heroes and their leader. He was going to show up in Batgirl and Aquaman 2 in small roles.

Now the Flash was supposed to come out in 2022 and be DC's answer to the Spider-Man movie with the alternate spider-men. However sadly the movie was delayed due to Ezra Millers insane behaviour and COVID.

Aquaman 2 and Batgirl meanwhile were both going to come out before the Flash which would have created continuity problems. Test audiences to Aquaman 2 responded negatively to Keaton's cameo, wondering why he was there instead of Affleck. As a result of this, Keaton's scene was cut and Affleck replaced him. Batgirl meanwhile it would have been harder to cut as he had a bigger role in it, yet at the same time, it wasn't about him the way the Flash is, where he is the second lead.

With this in mind, I reckon that DC probably didn't want Batgirl to be released as it would have not only created continuity issues, but also would have taken publicity away from the Flash being Michael Keaton's big return as the caped crusader. (Lets face it, after the crap Ezra's been through, Michael Keaton is going to be the person they use to promote it.)

Furthermore having seen the publicity and the money the Snyder Cut made by being this big lost film, that was hyped up, perhaps DC think they can pull the same trick twice? It would make more sense. They can cancel it now and save money, however in the next year they can maybe work a bit more on it, and fix anything wrong, and then they can release it after the Flash, which if it's a hit (it's tested very well with audiences) then there will be an appetite for more Keaton and drum up the same type of publicity as they did for the Snyder cut.

There are already ReleaseBatgirl petitions starting. Personally I think if DC were smart this is what they would do, but who knows?
 
I think the simplest answer that fits all the facts is that they added up the costs of extensive reshoots, post production, marketing and distribution, against what the film would have to make to be profitable, and decided against going forward.

If a secret agenda is assumed, I think it's a message to the DC Group that the days of poorly produced live action television shows and producing movies with no hope of profit are over.

There certainly does seem to be more interest in Batgirl now, but whether that will actually translate into a substained push needed to get them to restart post production has yet to be seen. But the financial realities of Warner Media seem enough.
 
AlphaFoxtrot said:
There certainly does seem to be more interest in Batgirl now, but whether that will actually translate into a substained push needed to get them to restart post production has yet to be seen. But the financial realities of Warner Media seem enough.
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I may be wrong but the only thing they need to do is finish the SFX correct? I think if the interest is there post Flash, as @burrunjor theorized, it wouldn’t be super difficult to finish. Honestly I’ve thought this since there’s been SO MUCH media blitz about the cancelation and I knew NOTHING about it beforehand.
 
Post production would include SFX, which, I can't imagine would be very expensive for Batgirl, but you never know with modern films, filmed footage could just be actors standing in front of green screens. But the thing is, if the test screenings came back poorly, they will have to reshoot things to re-edit the film. Likewise, they may also have to reshoot things for SFX shots.
 
Good point. I wonder what test screenings have shown? Like what was it they didn’t like? Story? Michael Keaton? I have always found the concept of test screenings weird in general, because many times, positive test screening reviews have ended up with poor box office results and vice versa.
 
I mean, the movie was cancelled due to tax purposes. WB is seriously in the hole and Zaslav has been making cuts left and right to improve profit margins.

I also am really doubtful that they’re concerned about continuity. Their last two big hits had nothing to do with the DCU whatsoever and were received very well.
 
It's also important to note that beginning next summer (2023) HBO Max and Discovery are going to merge, becoming one entity under WB. Note that in addition to cancelling Batgirl they also removed 6 movies that they already had streaming. It's very rare for a streaming service to remove their own content. David Zaslav (CEO) is very much against movies releasing straight to streaming and said "We have a different view on releasing direct to streaming films and we have taken steps to course correct the previous strategy".

In short, I suspect everything is up in the air for a variety of reasons. Batgirl probably got the axe because they aren't going to release it straight to streaming and they didn't feel it would do well as a theater release.
 
@Kendar he is also very pro-reality TV because it is cheap to shoot. Hence why most of the scripted programs are getting canned left and right, especially the CW shows. Meanwhile the crummy Discovery shows get to stay.
 
Plasma said:
@Kendar he is also very pro-reality TV because it is cheap to shoot. Hence why most of the scripted programs are getting canned left and right, especially the CW shows. Meanwhile the crummy Discovery shows get to stay.
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Omg I hope that means Conjuring Kesha can get a season 2. As an avid Kesha fan and supernatural enthusiast, seeing her make contact with supernatural spiritual beings has been EVERYTHING this summer! ❤️

Sucks for the scripted department though! There have been some amazing content released from HBOmax!
 
Plasma said:
I mean, the movie was cancelled due to tax purposes. WB is seriously in the hole and Zaslav has been making cuts left and right to improve profit margins.

I also am really doubtful that they’re concerned about continuity. Their last two big hits had nothing to do with the DCU whatsoever and were received very well.
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Aquaman 2 tested poorly because audiences found Keaton's appearance confusing and were asking why Affleck wasn't there. Also it's not just continuity. I think they have a lot riding on Keaton's return.

They saw how well Tobey Maguire's return as Spider-Man did last year and clearly want their own movie like that. Added to that with Ezra being a dangerous lunatic, Keaton is clearly going to be the one to promote the Flash which they have too much money invested in to can like Batgirl. As a result Keaton's comeback being a small scale, Batgirl movie would probably have got in the way of the Flash being promoted as the return of the original Batman.
 
@Kendar ; It's not that unusual. It's highly unlikely Warner owns any of their films free and clear. They still have to pay royalty fees for the actors, licensing fees for the music, et cetra. This is why, despite having access to the entire Warner Archive, HBO still plays and replays the same films over and over again. It may seem free, but for accounting reasons, it's not.
 
burrunjor said:
They saw how well Tobey Maguire's return as Spider-Man did last year and clearly want their own movie like that. Added to that with Ezra being a dangerous lunatic, Keaton is clearly going to be the one to promote the Flash which they have too much money invested in to can like Batgirl. As a result Keaton's comeback being a small scale, Batgirl movie would probably have got in the way of the Flash being promoted as the return of the original Batman.
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I think you’re correct in this regard. That Flash trailer from awhile back was mostly focused on Batman, partly because I think there was some drama with Miller at the time. Nowadays so much stuff has happened with Ezra that I really wouldn’t be shocked if this is supposed to recast them somehow too.

I think a lot of the problems going on at DC are related to the fact that Batman is the one property keeping the lights on. He has the most ongoing comics, is their most successful character in film, and is the star of one of the most critically praised animated series of all time. It really feels like DC is just throwing Batman at the wall here lately just to hope it sticks
 
Plasma said:
I think you’re correct in this regard. That Flash trailer from awhile back was mostly focused on Batman, partly because I think there was some drama with Miller at the time. Nowadays so much stuff has happened with Ezra that I really wouldn’t be shocked if this is supposed to recast them somehow too.

I think a lot of the problems going on at DC are related to the fact that Batman is the one property keeping the lights on. He has the most ongoing comics, is their most successful character in film, and is the star of one of the most critically praised animated series of all time. It really feels like DC is just throwing Batman at the wall here lately just to hope it sticks
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Yes the fact that a Flash movie, even before its star was revealed as a dangerous lunatic gained more attention because of Batman was really saying something LOL.

Either way I think there are probably many reasons for Batgirl's cancellation, but the Flash being delayed was probably the clincher and I still think we may see Batgirl some day as a lost movie like the Snyder cut.
 
It's unfortunate but the reason is that DC is under new management now that it's Warner Bros. Discovery, and the truth is that DC has been floundering for a while now. The reports say that every one who has seen the - still unfinished - Batgirl movie, say that it's just not good. So Zaslav scrapped it to save on money and not further embarrass the DC name. He's basically canceled the DC CW shows as well, which started out strong with Arrow but has fizzled ever since Crisis on Infinite Earths.

As much as I still would like to see Batgirl, truth is we may never see it. I feel really bad for the actress Leslie Grace, though. Hopefully, the Flash movie still comes out.
 
Re: CW Shows: I only watched Crisis for the Bruce Wayne Beyond/Kingdom Come. I was ... disappointed. Although, I get a chuckle from "Bat of the future" when I think about it.
 
AlphaFoxtrot said:
Re: CW Shows: I only watched Crisis for the Bruce Wayne Beyond/Kingdom Come. I was ... disappointed. Although, I get a chuckle from "Bat of the future" when I think about it.
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If there’s one thing the CW shows did well, it was disappointment.

So much great source material reduced to slop in the CW trough
 
Maybe someone high up just watched it and thought they'd spare the world from another low quality DC offering. Civic duty.
 
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