It is weird that they’re taking down movies that they own outright. It’s not like licensing deals they didn’t care to renew. That doesn’t make any sense.
I wonder if they’re going to release them into theaters. A crazy idea, but no more crazy than killing HBO Max.
Going back to Batgirl for a second, the fact that they didn’t think Justice League should have gotten a Snyder Cut makes me trust their judgement on what is a good movie. They seem to have a good head on their shoulders regarding that, at least. So they’re probably right about the quality of Batgirl.
Technically all they said is that they were appalled at how much was spent on it.
I wanted to say
DC fans are so crazy they think canceling a bad Batgirl movie means that HBO Max is doomed.
But there appears to be a lot more rumor leaking beyond that.
If they do remove scripted content from HBO Max publishing, they will fail, full stop.
This is why, among many other things, QUIBI failed. They had no good original content and focused on a lot of semi or unscripted shows. I literally subscribed to QUIBI to watch Reno 911 and canceled it when that was done.
I think this is some insane shit going on at high levels where someone saw what the cost/earnings for a reality show was and said, why don’t we make just that? Without having someone ask the question, if we make that, will anyone watch it? The market is already full to bursting with reality TV, and I think a pivot to focusing on content like that would be a bad call that would have looked like a good call 10 years ago.
Anyway, the important thing to note/remember is that all of the really good stuff, like your Hacks or other HBOMax funded TV will likely be safe and folded into HBO proper. They will want to keep shows that did well, HBO still needs to attract subscribers. Shows that are more marginal or creative or have new talent from new creators will be a lot more risky to keep.
Also, release the unwatchable batgirl movie. I must consume it.
They could even retitle it.
Unwatchable Batgirl!
Multiple insiders told TheWrap they expect Chief Executive Officer David Zaslav to announce a major restructuring of marquee streaming platforms HBO Max and Discovery+ during its results or soon after.
The move will result in a gutting of HBO Max, significant layoffs for its executives and staff to minimize redundancies with HBO and a combined streaming service with Discovery+ with a harder line separation between the scripted and unscripted content operations.
Brendan Frasier was in this? Was he playing his Doom Patrol character?!??!
According to recent articles, the cancelling had nothing to do with the viability of HBOMAX, it’s mostly focused on the fact that the new directive from on high is that you don’t do movies straight to streaming release. You’re going to do blockbusters in theaters first. No more direct-to-streaming or simultaneous release for films.
That being said, there was also talk that cancelling the film now, before mid-August, would benefit the company from a tax-writeoff perspective. But it has to be done now.
As for the film itself, effects are in various stages of being (un)done, but so far test screenings have been and I’m paraphrasing: “not a disaster”. Which is not really a glowing endorsement. My gut feeling is that Warner/Discovery will not budge and you’ll never see this except for maybe a leaked print (the era of fans getting what they want via alternate releases will have died with the Snydercut).
— Alan
You underestimate the narcissism of CEO and executives who take over and want everything out that represents the previous regime, even if it loses them money.
My vote is still you’re both just underestimating the bottom line on a spreadsheet somewhere. If this was going to make money, the new regime would be happy to take credit for it.
I think… all of this.
Especially the bit about Discovery’s C-Suite making decisions that would’ve been good ones 10 years ago, but look incredibly stupid today.
The movie might be terrible. But after blowing $90M on it, what’s to lose? Is it really that bad?
I have also had the thought that perhaps the Discovery C-suite Execs/BOD are … shall we say, modern “conservatives,” who are probably incensed that a movie starring one of them and directed by the other them would ever be released in their America. And they are cancelling it because nobody cancels culture like the people who use the phrase “cancel culture” unironically. But this is perhaps for P&R.
Most likely, they’re just stupid.
You’re assuming competence.
I’m assuming short-sighted greed.
Insurance payout. I think the rumor is that they are choosing not to release the product as an insurance thing, due to the pandemic causing delays etc. If they do this they can’t release it anywhere that is monetized.
But, I think the rumor of the execs making these decisions is probably a bit overblown, and might be being leaked as a way to try and put into focus how unpopular this would be for the people that are already subscribing.
I think it is a little bit of both. We will see what happens when they have their earnings call.
I read that by canning it by a certain date they could take the $90M loss and use it to cover something else when tax time came. And it wasn’t QUITE finished, although it sounds like it was pretty close. If they don’t wanna release it to streaming, though, it seems like a sensible choice.
Interested to hear what they announce today RE: HBO Max, in particular. I like that service.
HBO Max is probably my favorite streamer right now. It has some of the best movies and TV series on it, out of all of the streamers.