AVENGERS: ENDGAME Director Says BATGIRL Being "Murdered" By Warner Bros. Is Akin To "Corporate Sociopathy"

AVENGERS: ENDGAME Director Says BATGIRL Being "Murdered" By Warner Bros. Is Akin To "Corporate Sociopathy"

Avengers: Endgame director Joe Russo has shared his thoughts on Batgirl's shocking cancellation at Warner Bros. Discovery, and he doesn't hold back on criticising what's proved to be a very divisive move.

By JoshWilding - Nov 03, 2022 07:11 AM EST
Filed Under: Batgirl
Source: Variety

One of Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav's first big decisions as the studio's new head honcho was to pull the plug on Batgirl. The movie had finished shooting and only needed to undergo some reshoots and finish off the VFX, so the fact it was scrapped and put down as a tax write-off shocked the entire film industry. 

The backlash was vocal and it's clear Warner Bros. lost a lot of fans and prospective creative partners with the move. One filmmaker who was deeply unimpressed with what became of Batgirl is Avengers: Endgame co-director Joe Russo. 

Acknowledging that there are many studio executives who baulk at the idea of releasing big budget movies on streaming services, he said: "It’s rare that I can think of something that high profile, that expensive, that was murdered in such a way. It’s sad, but we’re at a time in the business where corporate sociopathy is going to rear its head because people are scared."

Batgirl had been planned as the first in a slate of DC movies that would have been released on HBO Max in an effort to boost subscriber numbers and expand the DCU.

Zaslav has a different take on that, however, and intends to make DC Studios an outlet that produces movies designed for the cinematic experience. That's not a bad thing, and there are still plans for DC TV shows on HBO Max (Peacemaker was the first of those, with a show spinning out of the events of The Batman featuring Colin Farrell's Penguin up next). 

As for Russo's take, we can't really disagree. This is a somewhat disturbing trend, and one that shows no creative team's vision is safe if a studio can step in at any moment to not just halt production, but wipe an entire movie from the face of history. 

Remember, it's been reported that, in an effort to avoid a repeat of the #ReleaseTheSnyderCut incident, Batgirl was literally deleted after one final screening for those involved. 

What's your take on how Warner Bros. Discovery handled this movie's cancellation?

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KWilly
KWilly - 11/3/2022, 7:50 AM
Someone will leak Batgirl one day. I know someone has the footage.
DiegoMD
DiegoMD - 11/3/2022, 10:21 AM
@KWilly - I hope so, but if they deleted it, it doesn´t seem likely. Maybe the dailies survived?
JonC
JonC - 11/3/2022, 12:34 PM
@KWilly - Let's hope its the Ryan Reynolds Deadpool version.
Unites
Unites - 11/3/2022, 7:54 AM
I don't think they have planned making a movie for WBD the upcoming years 😅
mastakilla39
mastakilla39 - 11/3/2022, 1:00 PM
@Unites - Yeah they dont need em when they hav Netflix to dump all their terrible films like Gray Man.
Lokiwasright
Lokiwasright - 11/3/2022, 7:56 AM
They should stop hiring woke weirdos then get mad because their product is too "woke".
Vigor
Vigor - 11/3/2022, 8:00 AM
@Lokiwasright - ... really?!
Unites
Unites - 11/3/2022, 8:02 AM
@Lokiwasright - I don't know why, but I keep getting surprised by seeing that there are actually people like you out there
MitcHendricks
MitcHendricks - 11/3/2022, 9:47 AM
@Unites - You mean normal people who aren't brainwashed.
bobevanz
bobevanz - 11/3/2022, 8:03 AM
He's right, Zaslav is a clown indeed
tmp3
tmp3 - 11/3/2022, 8:10 AM
wonder if gunn is gonna do something about this as a fellow film-maker, but i kind of doubt it. even if this film stunk, it's not like most of the cbms released this year were any good haha
ShimmyShimmyYA
ShimmyShimmyYA - 11/3/2022, 8:40 AM
@tmp3 - nothing he really can do zaslav is his boss and if he wants to do it again then he will
nerdygeek12
nerdygeek12 - 11/3/2022, 8:15 AM
I'm kind of glad it got cancelled. From what was shown it didn't look particularly good. I think it's kind of refreshing that the studios thought "You know what, this film simply aint good enough" as opposed to "even though it's really bad, we're still going to put it out because people will watch it regardless".

I know it was written off for tax purposes but my take on it is that I'm slightly getting superhero fatigue, and the subpar movies coming out these past few years, has diminished my excitement to watch any of them. If they pull bad ones and only put out quality ones, and no oversaturate the genre, then maybe my excitement and others will return.

In one hand it would be nice for people to make their own mind up on the project. It could genuinely have been a good movie or it could have been one of them films like Venom, where G.A like it but critics hate it.

Instead of releasing it in cinema, they should have just released it on HBO Max. Where their marketing costs would be substantially less.
ObserverIO
ObserverIO - 11/3/2022, 8:24 AM
It was an expensive TV pilot. It's perfectly normal.

And it was bad for business. A potentially multi-billion dollar business.
And they were covered. They didn't lose a cent.

It was a sensible thing to do.
TheLobster
TheLobster - 11/3/2022, 8:33 AM
@ObserverIO - this is the correct take
dagenspear
dagenspear - 11/3/2022, 7:13 PM
@ObserverIO - Sensible? Debateable. Easy? Maybe.
TheLobster
TheLobster - 11/3/2022, 8:32 AM
Everyone needs to stop lying to themselves - this film was going to be bad anyways lol

It was fairly low budget for a CBM since it was supposed to premiere on HBO Max and it was from the directors of Bad Boys For Life.

Stop

Lying
CorndogBurglar
CorndogBurglar - 11/3/2022, 8:35 AM
@TheLobster - Didn't they also say it was initially produced as a TV show, which is why it looked so bad? I could be making that up.
ShimmyShimmyYA
ShimmyShimmyYA - 11/3/2022, 8:48 AM
@TheLobster - so what? They drop bad movies all the time let people decide if they think it’s bad , it wasn’t about quality assurance it was about the tax write off
TheLobster
TheLobster - 11/3/2022, 9:11 AM
@CorndogBurglar - I didn’t hear that but it wouldn’t surprise me haha
TheLobster
TheLobster - 11/3/2022, 9:13 AM
@ShimmyShimmyYA - see that’s where you’re wrong pal. It was about quality assurance because if they thought the film would have performed strongly at the box office (due to it being good) - they would have released it. They’re not actively looking to lose money dude lol

Because they saw it and thought it was shit - they decided that it would be better for both their pockets and brand to shelve this and they’re probably right.
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