1 year ago

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Hollywood Reporter article reveals SEETHING woke movie industries absolute fury over the cancellation of WOKE BATGIRL!

‘Batgirl’ Debacle Pushes DC Back Once Again
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie-features/batgirl-cancellation-dc-movies-1235192230/

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https://tinyurl.com/2s3bc36d

'BATGIRL' MOVIE CANCELED (my previous video)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EsVUus1fykE&t

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Warner Bros. isn’t in the business of making bad movies. At least, that’s the common refrain on social media now that David Zaslav, chief executive of the newly combined Warner Bros. Discovery, is in charge. What seems to be a more accurate assessment is that Warner Bros. isn’t in the business of making movies that aren’t guaranteed to line company coffers.
The cancellations of Batgirl and Scoob!: Holiday Haunt, which until yesterday were both in postproduction, have sent shockwaves through Hollywood. In the case of Batgirl, social media pundits claimed the film was shelved because it was so bad it couldn’t be released. This, of course, operates under the assumption that Warners hasn’t released plenty of bad movies before — bad movies that made money. And it suggests that a regime change at Warners means we should expect nothing but straight masterpieces from here on out (anyone want to take bets?).
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Behind the Cancellation of 'Batgirl'
As for Warners, it said in a statement that the move was due to a change in corporate strategy, with the studio thanking its stars, which include Leslie Grace (Batgirl, aka Barbara Gordon), Michael Keaton (back as Batman for the first time in 30 years), J.K. Simmons (Commissioner James Gordon, aka Barbara’s father) and Brendan Fraser (the villain Firefly), and directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, who were hired hot off the success of 2020’s Bad Boys for Life, and who’d recently received more good notices for directing episodes of this summer’s Disney+ series Ms. Marvel.
The Hollywood Reporter noted that the $90 million Batgirl had one test screening with unfinished effects that received a middling but passable grade. This type of score is often typical for movies with unfinished effects, including the first It, which wound up grossing over $700 million for Warners. The real reason behind the cancellation, sources told THR, was Zaslav’s determination that the film would recoup more of its budget as a tax write-down than as a theatrical or HBO Max release.
It seems implausible that a DC film with “Bat-” in the title, let alone one that brings back Michael Keaton as Batman, would have been a financial failure. But to play devil’s advocate, let’s say that it wasn’t a major success in luring subscribers. Part of former WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar’s strategy was to create middle-budget films for HBO Max that didn’t need to be blockbuster hits, but that would expand the DC Universe and allow more filmmakers to add their spin on it.

Leslie Grace starred in Batgirl JOHN LAMPARSKI/FILMMAGIC
An Afro-Latina-led Batgirl movie, directed by filmmakers of Moroccan descent, and starring a transgender Asian woman (Ivory Aquino), would have generated some positive buzz for the studio that wants to assure its audience that it’s committed to diversity. And if tens of millions in budget can be granted to white filmmakers whose films don’t generate mountains of revenue, then surely a nearly completed film with a built-in audience should at least be given a shot.
Of course, the argument is that the risk of Batgirl wasn’t worth the possible reward. Yet, it so frequently seems that minority-led and directed films are the projects considered risks. The cancellation of Batgirl is just another mark on the Hollywood myth that films led by women and people of color don’t make money. Marvel chairman Ike Perlmutter famously thought of Black Panther and Captain Marvel as risks, blocking them from being made for years. We saw how those turned out. What’s risky about a $90 million Batgirl movie? Not every superhero movie needs to be a world-ending epic. According to accounts from the test screening, Batgirl was a low-stakes superhero origin story with style and strong performances, not unlike Batgirl screenwriter Christina Hodson’s Birds of Prey (2020).
casting process, it seems that Zaslav has a lack of imagination when it comes to the variety of characters, tones and genres at his disposal.
Warner Bros. wants so badly to be where Marvel Studios is, but it lacks the patience and understanding of its characters to ever get there.

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