DC/WB Films/Worlds (No Spoilers)

[Myskin]

Synder Cut was just fan pandering, good or bad. That was never going to be a legitimate jumping-off point.

The issues go back to BvS and the rushing of a cinematic universe. JL flopping in the first place should've been a pause and then major revision.

Yet, we got Aquaman, BoP, and Shazam right after, with the universe having no clear direction, which would be fine, but that doesn't work when the higher-ups are attempting to build something. They were throwing darts at the wall, trying to make it stick. While I think the latter two are enjoyable films, and Aquaman at least made money, it's simply not enough to sustain what they're looking for. It doesn't help that WW84 was terrible.

They should've reevaluated years ago, they didn't, and while the this merger exceeds out of their control there's nothing worth keeping. Now everything is at risk.

This in a nutshell, more or less.
I'd add that the problems were already there since the very beginning, because both Superman Returns and MOS were rushed productions which started for reasons which don't have much to do with a real plan, mostly to avoid legal actions from Siegel and Shuster's heirs.
There was a lot of incompetence too, too many cooks in the kitchen (or no cook at all sometimes), and even some bad luck along the way (Ezra Miller...). But what is comically bad about the entire slate of DCEU movies is that for literally every single one of them they tried to change the approach, in an endless series of course corrections mostly focused on what they DIDN'T want the movies to be like, or what they wanted them to resemble, rather than what they wanted the movies to BE like.

Superman Returns relies too much on dull Donner nostalgia? Ok, let's make Superman more similar to Nolan's trilogy, let's put Nolan among the producers and make Superman more aggressive and sexy - heck, let's put half-naked Cavill in half of the movie and let's make some female characters openly say that he IS hot, because viewers are too dumb to realize it themselves. This is not your grandfather's Superman, pal!
MOS didn't work? Maybe Superman doesn't work in solo films. OK, you know what - let's put Batman in the sequel or even better, let's include BOTH Batman and Wonder Woman. Just to be sure let's kill Superman, too.
And since someone criticized the darkness of the movie and the fact that it was too long let's butcher Suicide Squad.
OK, the previous movies were considered too dark, you know what? Let's make Wonder Woman a bit less dark, maybe it will work.
Heck, IT WORKED! Let's make the Wonder Woman sequel even LESS dark, or even better - let's make it as dumb as possible and let's get Steve Trevor back in a ridiculous subplot which doesn't make sense.

And so on. And on. Of course, this is an oversimplification and there have even been some positive moments here and there, but the fact that this joke lasted for almost TEN years (15, if you include Superman Returns) is beyond my understanding.

[Green Goblin of Sector 2814]

Synder Cut was just fan pandering, good or bad. That was never going to be a legitimate jumping-off point.

The issues go back to BvS and the rushing of a cinematic universe. JL flopping in the first place should've been a pause and then major revision.

Yet, we got Aquaman, BoP, and Shazam right after, with the universe having no clear direction, which would be fine, but that doesn't work when the higher-ups are attempting to build something. They were throwing darts at the wall, trying to make it stick. While I think the latter two are enjoyable films, and Aquaman at least made money, it's simply not enough to sustain what they're looking for. It doesn't help that WW84 was terrible.

They should've reevaluated years ago, they didn't, and while the this merger exceeds out of their control there's nothing worth keeping. Now everything is at risk.

Sorry. But for those who are clamoring for WB to “restart everything,” that’s not likely to happen either. I don’t think Batgirl’s cancellation is a sign of a hard reboot to come. Again, if the image that WBD is trying to go for is “cohesive,” well it doesn't really seem cohesive to restart your universe when you have at least four films set in the current timeline already slated to come out. And yes, Shazam 2, Aquaman 2, Black Adam, and Flash are all still going to come out.

Batgirl was vulnerable in part because it had a relatively low budget when compared to those other films: $90 million. But Flash alone cost $200 million. Black Adam cost about as much as The Flash film. Shazam 2 cost around $120 million. Aquaman 2 is speculated to have the highest budget of any DC film (not even just DCEU film) so far.

WBD needs to recoup those investments. They can’t take a hit like that.

So those films are coming out and might be coming out until about mid 2024. So, how does it make sense to announce a hard reboot when you have these continuing franchises from the current universe, especially when you’re trying to go for a sense of cohesion?

And on top of that, some of those franchises have already found critical and/or financial success. Aquaman is the highest grossing DC film ever. Shazam was beloved by critics. Not to mention the successes of James Gunns’s TSS and Peacemaker. Like, seriously, the “stink” that some people think the DCEU has is really not that prevalent as people think it is and some of it has already been wiped away with things like TSS, Wonder Woman, Peacemaker, and Aquaman.

So even from a business perspective, the best decision would still probably be to continue with this universe and just continue to make good films and TV shows, allowing them to tell their own stories and establish these characters, and at the same time, appoint a “Kevin Feige” who will come on board and plan a crossover event for all these disparate DC properties. You know, sort of like how the comics division functions?

Think of it like the MCU, but unlike the MCU, you don’t actually have to watch EVERYTHING.

But either way, the point is: the people who want DC to just “restart everything” don’t really seem to understand how the business works. WBD already has too many sunken costs AND too many business relationships at stake for a hard reboot.

[Green Goblin of Sector 2814]

They should just fully reboot DC but they keep trying to salvage the DCEU for some reason. Just do what Batman is doing and build from scratch

Again, this is not really an option for all of the reasons I just cited. Restarting the DCEU at this point would just not work for SO many reasons. Some business-oriented, some fan-oriented. Either way: it’s likely not gonna happen.

Reeves’s The Batman franchise will likely continue on as a stand-alone “auteur” take on Batman.

[D.Z]

SnyderVerse revival soon

[mace11]

Batgirl Actress Attacked Online by Fan Celebrating Film Cancelation in Protest of SnyderVerse

[mace11]

Batgirl Canceled & Leslie Grace Immediately Bullied | Ridiculous Co-opting For Culture War

[The Kid]

Again, this is not really an option for all of the reasons I just cited. Restarting the DCEU at this point would just not work for SO many reasons. Some business-oriented, some fan-oriented. Either way: it’s likely not gonna happen.

Reeves’s The Batman franchise will likely continue on as a stand-alone “auteur” take on Batman.

And the DCEU will continue to be a joke because of their insistence to try and keep it alive. A few years from now, we'll be in the same position we're at the right now: the DCEU being a laughingstock

[Cyberstrike]

The sunk cost fallacy is the biggest problem with DCEU. You can re-edit/re-shoot/re-work a movie over and over and over, more scenes is not going to make a bad movie good it might make less bad.

The theatrical cut of Highlander 2 sucks the director's cut is just a "fun park your brain sci-fi/fantasy/action movie" that at least makes sense but it's not a masterpiece of world cinema. Zack Snyder and Joss Whedon can re-edit and redo each of their versions of their versions of Justice League it still never going to be a movie that I want to watch. If I want to watch an actual good version of a live action of JL movie then I'll watch the Arrowverse crossover Crisis on Earth-X which is everything that Snyder and Whedon got wrong on Justice League and you know is actually FUN.

[The BaRoN]

Investors call today, maybe we’ll hear something

[Last Son of Krypton]

Investors call today, maybe we’ll hear something

More cancellations.

[Green Goblin of Sector 2814]

And the DCEU will continue to be a joke because of their insistence to try and keep it alive. A few years from now, we'll be in the same position we're at the right now: the DCEU being a laughingstock

You're free to see it that way. But, if we're being objective, in recent years, a lot of the DCEU entries have been actually very solid: TSS, Wonder Woman, Peacemaker, Birds of Prey, Aquaman, etc. Actually, since 2018, the only critical disappointment has been WW84. And that has shifted the perspective: a lot of people actually don't think "instant garbage" when they think of the DCEU. At least not anymore.

If anything, in recent months, the MCU has been getting more hate and critical panning because of the current state of Phase 4 and how incredibly disappointing both MoM and Love & Thunder were.

[Kingdom X]

Batgirl Actress Attacked Online by Fan Celebrating Film Cancelation in Protest of SnyderVerse

People are so gross. Grace's response to the news was so dignified, when she had every right to be pissed, yet people are still taking this as an opportunity to dunk on her.

[krazijoe]

Maybe we can get Marvel to do an episode of What If on the DCEU.
One thing I have learned by reading these boards is that there are certain people what want to instigate bad narratives to incite or just poke. There are people that believe them and then push the narrative more. Gotta love the internet...

Here's some speculation, There will be no more HBO MAX. It will be absorbed with Discovery+ into a new streaming service probably called Warner Plus or some stupid name. Within that you will have branches like Discovery, Magnolia, MAX, HBO and maybe even a DC branch etc. each will highlight different shows and series. Some current shows will be axed, some current shows will be shuffled around and rebranded to a highlight their new home under the streaming service.
Does that mean all will be killed off? Nope. All it means is that the corporate structure will change to reflect their new vision. It's not all going to be unscripted shows and Joanna Gaines.

As for the Comics, I would be willing to bet that the comics are not even on the CEO's radar, that is why he has department heads. The money that DC makes or uses in the scheme of things is change found in the couch of these huge corporations...

[Hypo]

https://mobile.twitter.com/ladygaga/...22357882458114

[Hypo]

Deadline has some numbers on how much WB may be saving re: Batgirl

https://deadline.com/2022/08/batgirl...ie-1235084806/

Yesterday, news leaked that Warner Bros Discovery killed Batgirl, two days before its quarterly earnings, to take advantage of a “purchase accounting” maneuver available to the conglom given the fact that the company recently changed hands. That opportunity expires in mid-August, and allows WBD to not have to carry the losses on its books at a time when the studio is trying to find $3 billion in cost-saving synergies; this particular film costing around $70M.

Some of our sources scratch their head at that reasoning: How much money did Warners stand to save here? $15M-$20M at the most some say — which is nothing when you’re aiming at $3 billion. Furthermore, if Batgirl went straight to HBO Max, how could anyone determine if it was a success or failure? HBO Max largely doesn’t report its viewership numbers for its series and films.