Batgirl movie shelved by Warner Bros.

[Dave Gray]

This is a big deal.

We don't EXACTLY know what it means yet.  But we do know that it probably doesn't mean what you think it means.


So, the backstory is that there's a pretty major Batgirl movie that's filmed.  There's a complete movie that has been shown to test audiences.  It probably has some special effects left to be finished, but it's like 95% done with editing and post-production.  It was originally scheduled for release on HBO Max and had a mid-level budget of only 70 million (which because 90 million because COVID halted production).  But it's a major movie, with known stars, directors (who did Bad Boys for Life and some Marvel stuff) and brough back JK Simmons as Commissioner Gordon and even brought back Michael Keaton as Batman.

They're just not going to release this movie.  At all.  Probably ever.

But it's not because it sucks (probably).

There was a big merger with ATT and Warner Bros. and there was a limited amount of time (I thin it might be a year) where they're able to move things between companies as they split for tax reasons.  So, you can shift something like Batgirl off the books, claim that ass a loss with one company, but then the other doesn't have to reflect it on their balance sheet, so you can kinda cook the books and not hurt your stock price.  There are tax ramifications that help, as well....it's a loss that you don't have to report.  I don't know the nitty gritty, but in short: it's books cooking.

This new HBO/Warner guy is shifting strategy.  At the same time this happened, other movies that were almost done were shelved also, as well as HBO Max original movies were pulled and put on VOD, and there seems to be a shift away from HBO Max as a house for new, high-profile content.  And then there's the protection and reshuffling of the DC brand.

We don't know exactly what they're doing, but DC is kinda all over the place.  They have Keaton back in two properties (Batgirl and Flash), but apparently he also filmed scenes for Aquaman and rumors are that it was confusing for audiences so they may have reshot with Affleck.  Flash was supposed to bring all this together, but Ezra Miller is acting like a douche all the time in public, to where they might have to ditch him.

Meanwhile, Joker was hugely successful.  They're making a new one with Lady Gaga as Harley Quinn.  That means that Margot Robbie is likely not coming back.
The Batman was hugely successful, as well, but that doesn't seem to reasonably tie into a world with superhuman heroes...it's kinda its own thing and it has its own Joker.

Then you've got these new movies they seem to care about: Black Adam with the Rock, Shazam 2 (the first one was good), and Aquaman 2....so they seem to want to keep Momoa, but he's tied in with the old guard.  It's really a tough situation for them and I think they're going to try to clear the table and reign it in a bit.

[CF DolFan]

From whayt I read is it's a very woke movie and they succeeded in doing that. The problem is being so woke makes the movie pretty bad because it is so forced. Who knows? I'm of the mindset it will see light of day sooner or later.

[Spider-Dan]

CF, honest question:

Did you consider Black Panther or Captain Marvel to be "woke movies"?  This isn't a gotcha question.
I think I understand the conservative criteria for a "woke movie," but I'd rather ask directly than just presume.

[Tenshot13]

This is a big deal.

We don't EXACTLY know what it means yet.  But we do know that it probably doesn't mean what you think it means.


So, the backstory is that there's a pretty major Batgirl movie that's filmed.  There's a complete movie that has been shown to test audiences.  It probably has some special effects left to be finished, but it's like 95% done with editing and post-production.  It was originally scheduled for release on HBO Max and had a mid-level budget of only 70 million (which because 90 million because COVID halted production).  But it's a major movie, with known stars, directors (who did Bad Boys for Life and some Marvel stuff) and brough back JK Simmons as Commissioner Gordon and even brought back Michael Keaton as Batman.

They're just not going to release this movie.  At all.  Probably ever.

But it's not because it sucks (probably).

There was a big merger with ATT and Warner Bros. and there was a limited amount of time (I thin it might be a year) where they're able to move things between companies as they split for tax reasons.  So, you can shift something like Batgirl off the books, claim that ass a loss with one company, but then the other doesn't have to reflect it on their balance sheet, so you can kinda cook the books and not hurt your stock price.  There are tax ramifications that help, as well....it's a loss that you don't have to report.  I don't know the nitty gritty, but in short: it's books cooking.

This new HBO/Warner guy is shifting strategy.  At the same time this happened, other movies that were almost done were shelved also, as well as HBO Max original movies were pulled and put on VOD, and there seems to be a shift away from HBO Max as a house for new, high-profile content.  And then there's the protection and reshuffling of the DC brand.

We don't know exactly what they're doing, but DC is kinda all over the place.  They have Keaton back in two properties (Batgirl and Flash), but apparently he also filmed scenes for Aquaman and rumors are that it was confusing for audiences so they may have reshot with Affleck.  Flash was supposed to bring all this together, but Ezra Miller is acting like a douche all the time in public, to where they might have to ditch him.

Meanwhile, Joker was hugely successful.  They're making a new one with Lady Gaga as Harley Quinn.  That means that Margot Robbie is likely not coming back.
The Batman was hugely successful, as well, but that doesn't seem to reasonably tie into a world with superhuman heroes...it's kinda its own thing and it has its own Joker.

Then you've got these new movies they seem to care about: Black Adam with the Rock, Shazam 2 (the first one was good), and Aquaman 2....so they seem to want to keep Momoa, but he's tied in with the old guard.  It's really a tough situation for them and I think they're going to try to clear the table and reign it in a bit.

Easy fix, do a Crisis of Infinite Earths storyline.

[EDGECRUSHER]

It's a combo of the movie sucking and they want to do a DC reboot since almost all of their films have been terrible or financial failures. I say a combo because being a terrible movie hasn't stopped DC from releasing movies in the past. Hell, Sony released Morbius TWICE into theaters.

I heard some rumblings that the studio gets a major tax writeoff if they just don't release it. If true, I bet that's the main factor behind this decision.

[EDGECRUSHER]

CF, honest question:

Did you consider Black Panther or Captain Marvel to be "woke movies"?  This isn't a gotcha question.
I think I understand the conservative criteria for a "woke movie," but I'd rather ask directly than just presume.

I'm more Libertarian but I'll answer anyway. I did not consider Black Panther to be woke, just a bit overrated with HORRIBLE CGI to end the movie. Like a PS2 videogame. Very out of place considering the rest of the movie was very nice to look at.

I didn't see Captain Marvel but I heard it had a little cringe "girl power" elements. Main thing I heard was bad script. I think the "woke" stuff comes from bad writing, mainly the female characters. They don't like to make the females into villains or show them struggling, but that's the type of thing the audience can identify with. No one wants people who are perfect, they want to see them rise up against adversity.

An example would be Wanda from Wandavision and the last Doctor Strange movie. 100% the villain in both situations, literally a mass murderer in the movie. Yet, in Wandavision they had the balls to say to her "these people don't know what you sacrificed for them". SHE ENSLAVED THE WHOLE TOWN FOR MONTHS!!

In Doctor Strange, Strange says to her that "in the end you did the right thing and that was never in doubt". Absolutely absolving her of the horrors she committed. Then, she kills dozens and in the end is "redeemed". I wouldn't call that Woke, but it's certainly bad female writing.

This is why Wonder Woman was pretty good, it showed some struggles and sacrifices, rather than just have her be perfect 100% of the time.

[CF DolFan]

CF, honest question:

Did you consider Black Panther or Captain Marvel to be "woke movies"?  This isn't a gotcha question.
I think I understand the conservative criteria for a "woke movie," but I'd rather ask directly than just presume.

A few woke references during a movie do not make it a woke movie.

Black Panther was good. I have no issues with that movie as it was a legit story and nothing was forced. On the face of Captain Marvel I was entertained but as a guy who grew up with Captain Marvel being a man it was hard for me to get past the sex change just because you needed a female hero. Captain Marvel used to partner with Isis. I guess that's a lesbian relationship now.  

It's hard to belive your whole life that this guy is really this girl.


If you want a gay, black, female, hispanic, asian or whatever super hero it is much better to write a new one like Disney does with princesses. If it is good people will watch it. It's not really cool or even fair to the new actor to do the Jake from State Farm thing.

[Tenshot13]

A few woke references during a movie do not make it a woke movie.

Black Panther was good. I have no issues with that movie as it was a legit story and nothing was forced. On the face of Captain Marvel I was entertained but as a guy who grew up with Captain Marvel being a man it was hard for me to get past the sex change just because you needed a female hero. Captain Marvel used to partner with Isis. I guess that's a lesbian relationship now.  

It's hard to belive your whole life that this guy is really this girl.


If you want a gay, black, female, hispanic, asian or whatever super hero it is much better to write a new one like Disney does with princesses. If it is good people will watch it. It's not really cool or even fair to the new actor to do the Jake from State Farm thing.

The guy on the left is Captain Marvel from DC Comics.  There was a legal dispute with Marvel comics and they changed his name to Shazam!  

Captain Marvel the female from the movie (Carol Danvers) was Ms. Marvel in Marvel comics.  There was a man Captain Marvel (who's real name was Mar-Vell funny enough) from Marvel Comics but he was very different than the guy with the lightning bolt on his chest from DC comics.  He died in 1982, a bunch of other people breifly had the name and Ms. Marvel (Carol Danvers) became the new Captain Marvel in 2012, which has stuck since.  Also, remember when Rogue from the X-Men was super strong and had fly powers?  She got that by absorbing Ms. Marvel's powers and keeping them.  

Additionally, the new Ms. Marvel is the first Muslim-American superhero who just got her own show on Disney Plus.  She's a fangirl for Captain Marvel (Carol Danvers).

[Dave Gray]

CF, those are different characters entirely from different companies.  Different back-stories, different abilities.  It isn't a gender swap.

[EDGECRUSHER]

CF, those are different characters entirely from different companies.  Different back-stories, different abilities.  It isn't a gender swap.

You're both correct. That is Shazam, a DC character but the original Captain Marvel was a male. I do believe they did the gender swap later in the comic's run though, not just for the movie.

[Tenshot13]

You're both correct. That is Shazam, a DC character but the original Captain Marvel was a male. I do believe they did the gender swap later in the comic's run though, not just for the movie.

Read what I posted, I explain the whole thing

[Dave Gray]

I had no real familiarity with either of these characters, but I've seen both the Shazam and Captain Marvel movie and enjoyed them both.

My beef with Captain Marvel is that she's just too powerful.  So, like Superman, they have to find ways to get her out of the story or nerf her powers for the rest of the team to matter.

[Tenshot13]

I had no real familiarity with either of these characters, but I've seen both the Shazam and Captain Marvel movie and enjoyed them both.

My beef with Captain Marvel is that she's just too powerful.  So, like Superman, they have to find ways to get her out of the story or nerf her powers for the rest of the team to matter.

Yeah they made her way too powerful in the movies.  In the comics, she's only a little stronger than Iron Man.