Warner Bros. has everyone from Hollywood to investors in a panic due to recent news that HBO Max and Discovery+ will be merging under the supervision of David Zaslov, the new CEO of Warner Bros Discovery Inc.
AT&T’s WarnerMedia and Discovery completed the merger in April, creating the combined company Warner Bros Discovery Inc.
This merger would give both companies a wide variety of ownership of major television networks like the Food Network, HGTV, CNN and Cartoon Network. This will also include everything related to the DC Extended Universe.
Last week, it was announced HBO Max and Discovery+ will be relaunching as a single streaming service in summer 2023. Although you have a full year to enjoy the two services separately, the repercussions are already in effect.
Zaslov and other executives announced last Tuesday that the Batgirl movie will be officially shelved. This threw the Internet into a frenzy, due to the fact the film was nearly completed. All the countless work and reshoots in total brought the budget of the movie to nearly $90 million. It was initially supposed to just be released on HBO Max for subscribers.
This was disheartening for Batman fans past and present, as Michael Keaton was supposed to reprise his role as Batman for the first time in more than 30 years. The movie also included stars such as Leslie Grace, who would’ve played Batgirl (Barbara Gordon) in the film and being the first Latina to have done so. Actors Brendan Fraser and J.K. Simmons had main roles in the film as well.
“We think that we could build a long-term, much stronger, sustainable growth business out of DC,” Zaslav said during an earnings call Thursday while discussing his reasoning to axe Batgirl. “And as part of that, we’re going to focus on quality.”
The company plans on shifting its focus from putting out theatrical movie releases on HBO Max first and instead creating content that will be ready for theatrical releases all together.
Warner Bros. Discovery’s next step would be to reset the DC cinematic universe by setting up a 10-year plan for the franchise. Zaslav has prioritized cutting costs and has sought to refocus the company’s content strategy.
Batgirl unfortunately was not the only film to be shelved. The Scoob! sequel, Scoob!: Holiday Haunt, was canceled as well, but in this case, the film’s producer and co-writers opted to finish the film even after its cancellation.
The sequel cost nearly $40 million to make. WBD is speculated to take a tax write write-down on both of these films, but by doing so will make it impossible for Warner Bros. to monetize either movie.
It is unsure at the current moment how all these decisions made by the merger will affect the company down the line. Many fans have expressed both worries and excitement for what’s to come.
