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?