Warner Bros. / @LeslieGrace
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American media giant Warner Bros. Discovery canceled a movie about the superhero Batgirl at the last minute. It has already been filmed and was due to hit theaters at the end of this year or next.
It was speculated that the film scored poorly with test audiences which is why Warner decided to pull the plug on the project. According to leading US entertainment media such as Limit And The Hollywood Reporter is meaningless. At first, there was a positive reaction from viewers, while an unfinished film was shown in which the special effects have not yet finished.
Less streaming, more cinematic
The media says this is due to a change of course in the company. bat girl It was produced by HBO, which initially wanted to make several films that would be released directly on its streaming platform HBO Max. bat girl One of them was. With budgets of around $70 million, they won’t have to compete with the big cinemas.
Until Warner Bros. Discovery acquired HBO last year. With that, broadcast strategy has also fallen into the trash: Warner wants to compete on the silver screen. In April it was decided bat girl It became a theatrical movie and $20 million was added to the budget.
At the same time, the media conglomerate had to incur a loss of $ 3 billion. In the end, according to sources, the company decided that it was better to bear the loss, rather than spend another tens of millions on promotion and distribution, which is common when releasing a feature film. In addition, the company will get a tax advantage if the film is written off this month.
“They are not actors”
Warner Bros. Discovery confirms in a statement that it has made a change of course. “(Lead Actress) Leslie Grace is incredibly talented, and this decision has nothing to do with her acting. We are filmmakers and actors. bat girl We are very grateful and hope that we can work together again in the near future.”
The cancellation of the project was a severe blow to the Belgian duo, director Adel Elaraby and Bilal Falah. bat girl It will be their first project for the comics giant DC Comics. Earlier this year, they already made a Disney+ series for a major competitor Marvel Ms. marvel. According to Deadline, they also received the news while they were in Morocco for El Araby’s wedding.