"We had originally planned to do sequels for Wonder Woman and Green Lantern," revealed Timm during an interview with Think McFly Think. "With Green Lantern, it didn’t perform nearly as well as what they had hoped it would."
Timm went on to say that they “...were developing and hoping to get started on a Batgirl film based on [the comic] Year One, but because of Wonder Woman’s slow sales start, that won’t be happening now,” adding that the “the Exec’s decided ... there wouldn’t be any more female superhero films right now.”
Green Lantern
I want a show of hands: who really thought they’d be getting a new Green Lantern animated film anytime soon? You remember that they’re making a live-action film right? How often are you going to have a company put out competing products?
I am little upset at the money-minded executives who are apparently looming over this whole process. Don’t get me wrong. I understand that the world revolves around money and earnings, and I’m not naive enough to assume otherwise. But what bar are they judging these movies by? Are they asking too much from a medium which has so long been befouled with Jean Claude Vandam movies?
Wonder Woman
Though I’ve said I loved all the movies the ones I liked the least were Superman: Doomsday and Wonder Woman. Not because they weren’t done well, I’m sure they were, and have heard more than enough support for both films. My problem is I just don’t really connect with the characters.
That being said, anything with Nathan Fillion in it is going to end up on my shelves eventually. And the movie did interest me in a way no Wonder Woman comic has ever done. So I’m honestly not sure whether I’m surprised that this one won’t be getting a sequel treatment. There isn’t a Wonder Woman live-action film around the corner, although I’m still begging for Joss Whedon and Morena Baccarin to team up on it.
Batgirl and Other Females
What I am definitely surprised about is the unexpectedly sexist attitude that is causing the execs in charge of these films to veto any female superhero movies. Considering the niche market that they’re aiming for I’m surprised they think that a Batgirl movie wouldn’t sell well. In fact I’d go so far as to say that a Batgirl film would have sold better than a Wonder Woman film. She’s more widely accepted as a favourite character than Wonder Woman is due in part to her relationship with Dick Grayson, her tragic storyline, and the way her character has always been portrayed.
Do we make a Facebook page to get a movie? An online petition? I’m not sure, but the comments below have to be good for something, right?
What I do know is that we’re still going to be getting good animated features from this line, under the masterful direction of Bruce Timm, and it is not his fault that we won’t be seeing Batgirl: Year One or a Wonder Woman sequel. Should we speak out? Oh yes, and that’s what I’m doing, and I think that we should do something as a community to ensure that the bigwigs understand that we’re not going to sit idly by while they make decisions based on incomplete information and ages old tradition.