I am just so fascinated with this “Batgirl” story that I’m eating up every article I can get my hands on like – well, what better metaphor can I use than popcorn?
In case you’re not up to speed on what I’m talking about, “Batgirl” is a movie that was set to be released, yet now – barring some miracle – will never see the light of day, or better yet, the dark of a movie theatre. NO, no, no, how ‘bout this: the cramped confines of a mobile device people watch streaming services on – as it was scheduled to head straight to HBO Max, not theatres.
I joke out of jealousy, but only a mild case – I want creatives to succeed. But as someone who’s still on the struggle bus, it’s hard to feel sorry for someone who has a roof over their head, food in their belly, and was paid handsomely for their work even if no one sees it. There’s tons of us out here who’ve never had our shit seen. Big fucking deal. And yet I understand how it is a big fucking deal to someone fortunate enough to get to the level of making a movie, to have the rug unceremoniously pulled out from under them.
The directors of “Batgirl,” Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, released a statement saying they were “shocked and saddened,” by the news, which it seems they found out the same way that all the rest of us did, but don’t quote me on how they found out.
But anyway, I was a bit shocked and saddened that they were shocked –not saddened, I understand saddened – by this news. Yes, many people in the business are saying this is an unprecedented move by the new Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav, but be that as it may, this is still a business. A business – and I say this all the time – that can be quite ruthless. You can never be sure about anything outside of what’s in your contract. Hell, you may even have to fight to uphold that.
Unless you go the Tyler Perry route, as creatives you are always at the mercy of the studios. Or, perhaps if you’re a big enough name director, you may have more pull. However, I read reports that Christopher Nolan left Warner Bros for Paramount because of disagreements he had with the previous head of Warner Bros., Jason Kilar. So, you just never know. All you can know is that nothing is guaranteed until it’s guaranteed.
It’s definitely a hard lesson learned, and I wonder what the directors’ takeaway will be from it. I wonder if it will change or affect how they do business going forward, or how other creatives will react, or make moves as their projects go into development and beyond.
Then again, they ARE creatives, so maybe someone will create a way for them to not be so susceptible to getting the short end of the stick when it comes to these types of deals.
Hurt feelings and tough breaks aside, I think this was an excellent move by David Zaslav. A bold an overdue move that needed to be done. Because in actuality “Batgirl” and that Scooby Doo movie that was also cut were just casualties in a bigger war of straight-to-streaming vs. theatrical release.
It looks like Zaslav wants to return to prioritizing theatrical releases. He understands, and I agree, that there is a certain something about movie-going culture, that can’t be duplicated watching a movie in the privacy of your own home, or piecemeal on you breaks at work, or on a flight somewhere.
There is something about nerds, I mean die-hard fans, dressed up like Harry Potter or Star Wars characters waiting in line for the first midnight showing. There is something about overpriced popcorn, and sitting in a crowded theatre full of strangers that just can’t be duplicated in by a straight to streaming release. It’s the whole pomp and circumstance of the thing. It’s how we got movie stars to begin with.
If you ask me, we don’t have any big-name movie stars now. I mean other than the guys that have been around for 15-20+ years. But can you name one big name movie star that became a big-name movie star in the last 10 years even? I certainly can’t. I believe that’s due to all these streaming services. They’re spreading everything too thin.
While straight-to-streaming was a good alternative during the quarantine – it is after all, how I saw “In the Heights” and “King Richard” – now that everything has opened back up, it’s no longer ideal.
I think the success of “Top Gun: Maverick” and some other movies, have demonstrated that. Zaslav recognizes that and wants to return DC Comics movies to a movie-going event, instead of a HBO Max and chill type situation.
With the advent of all these streaming services, I think executives have gotten caught up in the technology of it and lost sight of the culture. If nothing else (well actually a whole lot else, but for the sake of cliches I’ma go with it) what lockdown taught us is that people rather be out and about with strangers than hold up in their houses.
Don’t get me wrong, there’s nothing wrong with a straight to streaming movie, or a TV movie. I love a good Lifetime or Hallmark Channel movie as much as the next woman, but I’m not paying for that shit in the theatre. Just the same, a big franchise movie such as “Batgirl” doesn’t belong on a streaming service or TV on it’s first run. It belongs in a theatre, and to do otherwise, cheapens the movie I think, and disregards the experience.
When it comes to “Batgirl,” there have also been reports that the movie wasn’t that good. So I guess, rather than spending the extra money it would take to fix it up, not to mention market it with no guarantee that it would be profitable, Zaslav decided he would go the tax write-off route, given that this movie was part of the merger. Who knows, he may have even broke even doing that…I don’t know how these tax write-off things go.
It’s my hope that other studio heads will follow suit with Zaslav and stop releasing movie-theatre worthy films on streaming services. And I said all that to say, bring back Blockbuster.
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