BATGIRL Received Similar Test Screening Score To Upcoming Theatrical Release SHAZAM! FURY OF THE GODS

BATGIRL Received Similar Test Screening Score To Upcoming Theatrical Release SHAZAM! FURY OF THE GODS

There have been conflicting reports about what role Batgirl's quality played in the film's cancellation, but it's been revealed that it scored the same as an upcoming DC blockbuster during test screenings.

By JoshWilding - Aug 04, 2022 04:08 AM EST
Filed Under: Batgirl
Source: The Hollywood Reporter

The New York Post was first to break the news about Batgirl's cancellation at Warner Bros. Discovery, and they claimed the movie was scrapped due to overwhelmingly negative test screenings. Since then, we've heard it may be down to everything from tax breaks to the movie simply being too small-scale for a theatrical release.

Nothing is really adding up, but we might now be able to debunk the notion that audiences rejected Batgirl after seeing an early cut of Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah's movie. 

According to The Hollywood Reporter, there was only one test screening and it had temporary VFX and a placeholder score. Used as a way to gauge what people do and don't respond to in a movie rather than a way of deciding whether a potential blockbuster should ever see the light of day, test screenings are important, and Batgirl ended up scoring in the 60s. 

Is that good or bad? 

Well, it puts it in the same place as It (which grossed over $700 million worldwide), and even this December's Shazam! Fury of the Gods, a movie that is receiving a theatrical release.

Again, it doesn't really make a lot of sense, but Warner Bros. Discovery is shifting away from making features for its streaming service, and CEO David Zaslav seemingly had grave concerns that Batgirl wasn't a big enough spectacle for theaters. He's already scrapped Wonder Twins and has a mandate moving forward that all big-screen releases need to "feel theatrical." 

As for why Batgirl couldn't just be "dumped" on streaming, the trade makes a very good point. It simply doesn't make sense to spend $90 million on a streaming movie that, ultimately, won't necessarily attract any more subscribers than one costing $40 million. Throw in the fact that this DC Comics adaptation would have cost tens of millions to promote, and the cancellation does make business sense. 

For fans, though, that's little consolation.

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kylo0607
kylo0607 - 8/4/2022, 4:38 AM
Whatever you do WB, just don't touch my boy Dune: Part 2 or The Batman sequel.
UnderBelly
UnderBelly - 8/4/2022, 4:41 AM
@kylo0607 - I'd like to hope Dune is safe, The Bamtan aswell but who knows with DC these days.
tmp3
tmp3 - 8/4/2022, 4:45 AM
@kylo0607 - more worried about the big budget sci fi bong joon ho sci fi flick starring pattinson/yeun and furiosa - both of which feel like they could be shut down by zaslav a week from now for being too risky
UnderBelly
UnderBelly - 8/4/2022, 4:48 AM
@tmp3 - Apparently the focus is for big screen spectacles. So based on that I think all the above are safe.

I get the impression he's trying to undo all the business plans and sense they made during the pandemic and pushing everything to streaming.

In the long run I hope it works, but it's a tough time for be a DC movie fan.
tmp3
tmp3 - 8/4/2022, 4:50 AM
@UnderBelly - yeah but a big budget “original” (it’s based on a book, but not one with a huge fan base) science fiction film and the prequel to a film that barely broke even don’t seem a lot riskier than what zaslav’s vision seems to be
UnderBelly
UnderBelly - 8/4/2022, 4:56 AM
@tmp3 - Maybe, I guess we'll see. Fury Road had alot of issues during production which blew all the coat up, I'm hoping Furiosa is a bit more straight forward, and keeping someone like Miller on board will be a win.

I'm sure if this new dude was in charge around the time Nolan was still with WB, Oppenheimer would probably be coming out with them.

Dune has a huge fan base dude.
tmp3
tmp3 - 8/4/2022, 4:49 AM
i liked that first shazam film a fair bit but i’m kinda worried about shazam 2. trailer was kinda mid, and dceu is a lot more miss than hit. gonna get steamroller by avatar 2 either way, so if zaslav actually cares about saving finances he probably would have moved it by now.
Spock0Clock
Spock0Clock - 8/4/2022, 5:11 AM
@tmp3 - I also have a lot of love for Shazam, but nothing about that trailer worked for me. Just felt like a complete retread of the first movie with a hastily re-edited rejected Percy Jackson script.

It always felt like a mistake to me to separate Black Adam into its own franchise. Even more-so now, with Adam feeling bloated and Shazam feeling empty and both feeling aimless without the other. (Imo.)
tmp3
tmp3 - 8/4/2022, 5:15 AM
@Spock0Clock - to each their own but black adam looks legitimately awful to me. can’t stand the rock, and it looks like a fake movie from the vought cinematic universe. shame because peacemaker and the batman were such big wins (the former being maybe the best non-the boys cbtv show on air rn) and now dc is just imploding. like, we knew the flash was gonna be ass for a while, but i didn’t know the whole cinematic universe was gonna just blow up like this
TheCoonII
TheCoonII - 8/4/2022, 5:28 AM
Not what John campeas sources say
mastakilla39
mastakilla39 - 8/4/2022, 7:58 AM
@TheCoonII - Maybe a 60 in test screening is equivalent to a C or D cinemascore which is considered bad for business. Even a B cinemascore has huge 2nd week drops so if it was a 60 that means its Morbius bad.
EskimoJ
EskimoJ - 8/4/2022, 2:23 PM
@mastakilla39 - How do you know what a testing audience score translates to with CinemaScore?

You're saying a score in the 60s means it must be Morbius bad -- according to... what?
mastakilla39
mastakilla39 - 8/4/2022, 7:27 PM
@EskimoJ - Because a 60 is like a 3/5. Use the chart below that translate into a C, which is [frick]ing terrible for a blockbuster film especially when B rated films gross drops significantly. Morbius got a C+ which means its just slightly above a 60 (3/5) rating too. Batgirl seems like trash too so I'm not missing it at all.

NakedAvenger
NakedAvenger - 8/4/2022, 5:29 AM
Cancel culture is getting out of control. (I'm sorry. I couldn't help myself)
VictorAlonzo
VictorAlonzo - 8/4/2022, 6:03 AM
I respect the decision. However, whatever DC does decide to drop next better be a gem. If it works, they make take the MARVEL throne.
PEDROM
PEDROM - 8/4/2022, 6:31 AM
@VictorAlonzo -
BuzzKillington
BuzzKillington - 8/4/2022, 7:24 AM
@VictorAlonzo -

Lokiwasright
Lokiwasright - 8/4/2022, 7:44 AM
@VictorAlonzo -
DanFlashesShirt
DanFlashesShirt - 8/4/2022, 8:58 AM
@VictorAlonzo - lol personally i think the ‘DC vs Marvel’ thing is well overblown, but stop. Marvel just announced (and will actually make) like 20 projects culminating in 2 avengers films. But sure, Aquman 2 or Shazam 2 is really gonna make a statement 😂😂😂

FOH with that nonsense.
VictorAlonzo
VictorAlonzo - 8/4/2022, 1:25 PM
@DanFlashesShirt - @Lokiwasright - @Buzzkillington - @PEDROM -

😆 I love the MARVEL❤ 😆!!!

Well done gents! 👏 👏 👏 👏 👏


Unfortunately, it doesn't negate the writing nonsense of phase 4. I can't unsee Kate Bishop breaking the bell tower, Loki repeatedly getting kneed in the 🥜🥜, Kingpin being defeated like Wile E. Coyote, the blasphemous depection of Taskmaster, 90% of the phase 4 dialouge, hindsight articles about MARVEL PHASE 4: WE ALMOST ___¹⁰⁰... 😖

...the decision to not recast T'Challa as he goes to battle with one of the oldest/greatest MARVEL characters on the roster- "don't worry: his little sister's got this🙄,


😤... the painfully obvious pandering to feminism while dismissing core fans (dey ain't goin noir' -we MAAAVEL), uninteresting focus on 2nd & 3rd tier characters while acting as if the ogs just said "fuggit" (Vision in MoM would've been nice. Imagine him & Dr. Strange going over the 14 million+ flaw), jokes popping up in death, wartime, EVERYWHERE, like zombies in MJ's Thriller (no gifs please), or the trolls who endlessly back these actions like they are not falling off in mostly every area of quality!

20 pieces of 💩 < 1 Solid project.


I digress...

tripttwe
tripttwe - 8/4/2022, 1:49 PM
@VictorAlonzo - in your old school lingo |
V


MARVEL be like:



VictorAlonzo
VictorAlonzo - 8/4/2022, 1:53 PM
@tripttwe -
DanFlashesShirt
DanFlashesShirt - 8/4/2022, 2:18 PM
@VictorAlonzo - most of phase 4 has been better than anything from the DCEU. The Batman/Joker don’t count. Even then The Batman was not the masterpiece it was billed as, as much as i enjoyed it.

Also your schtick sucks, go back to the lab.
VictorAlonzo
VictorAlonzo - 8/4/2022, 2:31 PM
@DanFlashesShirt -





Why doesn't the Batman/ Joker count? 🤔

I know the DCEU needs a lot of work, but saying most of phase 4 is better is an opinion, exactly like my disagreement.

As far as my "schtick" - you're absolutely wrong. My schtick is beyond god-tier. You gotta walk in reality buddy. It's okay, I'm here to help.
DanFlashesShirt
DanFlashesShirt - 8/4/2022, 6:43 PM
@VictorAlonzo - because that’d be like saying “the mcu is way better!” And pointing to X2 or Spidey 2 as reasons
VictorAlonzo
VictorAlonzo - 8/4/2022, 7:42 PM
@DanFlashesShirt - I think a 5 year vs 18-20+ year gap is a significant difference, but I see what you're trying to do.

The biggest problem is MARVEL'S obvious direction.

Imagine MARVEL being a young lead singer with raw talent. He breaks away from his Genesis group, and begins tagging along with "cooler kids".

You see him weeks later, he's dressing differently. Months later, acting differently. In a few years, he becomes unrecognizable, going against everything he stood for in the origin.

Now, some may say- that's evolving. I can see that, but if your evolution deteriorates your core values, you didn't evolve- you so(u)l(e)d out. Imo.
WarMonkey
WarMonkey - 8/5/2022, 5:18 AM
@DanFlashesShirt - "Quality over quantity" David Zaslov - Investor call 8/4/22
BuzzKillington
BuzzKillington - 8/5/2022, 1:22 PM
@VictorAlonzo -

VictorAlonzo
VictorAlonzo - 8/5/2022, 3:31 PM
@BuzzKillington - alright - this is hilarious! 😆


...I wish you'd been in the writing room for Thor Love & Thunder.
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