Warner Bros. axes $90 million ‘Batgirl’ movie that had been planned for HBO Max

LOS ANGELES — Warner Bros. has scrapped plans to release a nearly finished “Batgirl” movie that was planned for the streaming service HBO Max, according to two people familiar with the matter who were not authorized to speak publicly.

The Burbank movie studio had finished shooting the DC superhero spinoff, which cost an estimated $90 million to make.

But the movie fell short of what the company wanted for its key comic book franchise and no longer fit with the studio’s film strategy, the sources said.

“Batgirl” was originally commissioned as a straight-to-streaming film, as part of a broader plan to use the DC franchise to boost subscriber numbers for HBO Max.

At the time, Warner Bros. was part of AT&T-owned WarnerMedia, run by Jason Kilar, who wanted multiple original films made specifically for the direct-to-consumer platform. Kilar left the company ahead of its combination with Discovery Inc. in a $43 billion deal that closed this year.

Now, Warner Bros. has a different corporate mandate as part of the new Warner Bros. Discovery whose chief executive, David Zaslav, has been open about his view that movies perform better on streaming when they first premiere exclusively in movie theatres.

With a production budget of tens of millions of dollars, releasing “Batgirl” direct to streaming made little sense financially, one person close to the company said. But the movie, as scripted and produced, also wasn’t a big enough of a spectacle to merit a full-blown theatrical release.

The film, which cast “In the Heights” star Leslie Grace in the title role, was conceived with the small screen in mind. And while $90 million is hardly chump change, it’s far less than the $150 million to $200 million studios typically spend to produce big superhero movies before marketing costs. Matt Reeves’ “The Batman” had an estimated budget of $185 million and was released in theatres for 45 days before it debuted for streaming.

“Batgirl” was directed by Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, who had previously worked on the acclaimed Disney+ superhero series “Ms. Marvel.” Alongside Grace, the cast included J.K. Simmons, Michael Keaton and Brendan Fraser.

Axing a nearly finished movie, especially one with such a high profile, is highly unusual. Choosing to not release a film of that size means the company will have to eat the costs. But a cut of the film tested poorly in screenings, another person familiar with the matter said. Rather than spend additional money on a theatrical campaign, the company decided to take a writeoff.

Representatives for Warner Bros. and Warner Bros. Discovery declined to comment.

The decision, first reported by the New York Post, comes as Warner Bros. Discovery prepared to report quarterly earnings this week. Zaslav has promised Wall Street $3 billion in cost savings from the merger, but one of the people close to the company said that scrapping “Batgirl” was not a money-saving measure. The company has also shelved a “Scoob!” sequel that was planned for HBO Max.

HBO and HBO Max reported a combined 76.8 million subscribers at the end of the first quarter of 2022, making it one of the more formidable competitors to Netflix and Disney+.

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