The writer is surmising (with a source) that this flick was canceled for tax reasons - that if it was closed down, Warner Brothers could re-coup the entire cost of the film. The writer also points out that the new head of WB is quite an asshole and has also ended the WB/Clint Eastwood relationship (https://www.worldofreel.com/blog/2022/8/n4qvmel3cbww1ntb3s3rkb7stmaxho).
Of course it's not because of the movie being too 'woke'. These studio execs aren't wasting their time posting Breitbart or WND links on on Telegram or Gab. Also, David Zaslav sounds like a real piece of work.
So what that the lead is black. Does that mean every show/movie with a black lead that gets cancelled is now racist. What nonsense.
Crap movie is a crap movie no matter who is the lead.
My point was it was paid for by Warner Brothers. The project is owned by Warner Brothers. They can literally do what they want with it. It shouldn't even be a story.
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If she had been white then it would have been easy for people to recognise all too well that the movie must have been bad, but we're living in an era where minorities are being pushed way too hard to be in the public eye.
WB should have learned their lesson after recasting Batwoman with a black actress. The ratings had gone down considerably by the time that the third season began airing, which was round the same time that principal photography of Batgirl began.
It could be argued that WB are using this cancellation "scandal" to turn people's eyes away from the Ezra Miller issue.
I hope you loosened yourself up before you made that stretch there. Of all I've seen about the cancellation in the last couple days, you're the first I've seen peddle that ridiculous theory.
I'm not an accountant, but if they write it off on their taxes, doesn't it just mean they take the cost of the film as a loss, and they have to pay that much less tax on whatever their profits were for the year? I mean, you don't get to save the full amount of a tax deduction you take, you're just not paying tax on that amount. Then again, it's corporate taxes, maybe there is some wizardry that lets them save the full cost of the movie.
I think it's possible they just didn't want to pay to market and distribute the movie, along with being able to write it off. There are a lot of costs that go along with getting a movie out. Combine that with the tax savings and all of it combined makes it look like a good move.
im no accountant either, but i note "hollyweird finances" is quite corrupt forever.
note most films become thier own little "Business" LLC or whatever for the duration of the film. if that "company" goes "bankrupt", they can recoup quote a lot from a loss. im sure I'm not totally right, but I've read something like that, but much much more complex.
It's really looking like no matter what your wiki definition tells you is "anti-woke claims BS" that they have plans for a big BatFleck movie and don't want to Sully the franchise and get a Ghostbusters Afterlife type situation for themselves.
Good post. It sure seems humiliating for Grace that her hard work and performance was deemed so valueless that they would exchange it for a tax write-off. I wonder if lead movie stars will try to negotiate an end to this practice in the future considering the discredit it creates for the star’s reputation
I’m saying it will probably cause lead movie stars with sufficient bargaining power to negotiate terms to address this situation. Do you think Scarlett Johansson (who gets paid a percentage of movie revenue by the way) would tolerate a studio’s unilateral decision to cancel a movie in which she starred so that they could preserve a tax write-off?
I’m talking about future scenarios where actors can gripe about not getting the benefit of their deal. Jesus, it’s hardly some controversial idea. Johansson just sued the shit out of Disney for trying to pull her movie out of theaters in favor of more lucrative streaming to which her revenue sharing did not apply
Read up more on the new head to WB and really, it isn't surprising at all especially when you learn of his attitude toward Eastwood and how he responded to WB green lighting Cry Macho.
This new guy is clearly an asshole that cares nothing about loyalty or past performances.
And it wouldn't be surprising if maybe he is doing this to find more ways to line the pockets of WB - like getting another studio to pick up or chip in to Batgirl.
If it's true that the simplest explanation is most likely to be the true one, then maybe the movie was just a great big steaming pile of awfulness. With worms.
The second likeliest explanation is that the whole thing was a scam designed to keep the contractual rights to the Batgirl character, that's been done before. Footage was shot, actors and directors and crew were hired, and then the film was never released, because the studio wanted to keep the rights to a property but didn't have a script worth filming. The people working on the film had no idea.
'The second likeliest explanation is that the whole thing was a scam designed to keep the contractual rights to the Batgirl character, that's been done before.'
A year ago, I know, but yes it certainly has, and I wouldn't put it past the studio for a moment (I don't know if there was a rights issue). The only thing that gives me pause is that I'm not sure they would have gone as far as hiring Keaton.
I heard another reason is due to the ending of The Flash being changed. In the original ending Affleck's Batman dies and Keaton's Batman takes his place in his universe. Due to Affleck changing his mind about not playing the character again it was decided to reshoot the ending so he lives. That way he can appear in Aquaman 2 and other future DCEU movies. However as a result Keaton's presence in Batgirl no longer makes any sense. Reshooting his scenes with Affleck was not a option because of contract issues so it decided to shelve the movie for the time being due to it no longer being canon.
Keaton originally shot scenes for Aquaman 2 but was replaced by Affleck when he decided to come back and the release date was changed. The original ending of The Flash killed off both Batfleck and Cavil's Superman and replaced them with Keaton's Batman and Supergirl. The ending has been reshot to have both Affleck and Cavil survive.
Their trying to appease Brendan Fraser by offering him a role as Firefly in the solo Batman movie but he's likely to decline out of loyalty to the Batgirl filmmakers. J.K. Simmons is also upset and unlikely to play the role of Commissioner Gordon in any future DCEU films. Jeffrey Wright will probably play the character from now on.
This is info i got from a friend who's an insider.