It has been disclosed by The Hollywood Reporter that film president Walter Hamada pondered leaving the company and sought advice after the cancellation of the Batgirl movie and the desire of new Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav to find new leadership for DC. For the time being, Hamada has reportedly agreed to stay until Dwayne Johnson’s Black Adam premieres on October 21. The Hollywood Reporter was told by an anonymous insider, “He’s pausing. The choice to make this combative has not been taken at this time.
Zaslav stated at the last Warner Bros. investors call that he hopes to stabilise the DC company in order to better compete with Disney and Marvel Studios. Zaslav stated, “We believe that we can establish a far better, sustained growth business out of DC. Towards that end, we will prioritise excellence. No movie will be released before it is completely finished… We have the ability to improve DC. The conflict stems from Zaslav’s promise to “reset” DC with a 10-year strategy to increase profits. As previously reported, Warner Bros. Pictures Group co-chairmen and CEOs Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy broke the news of the Batgirl movie’s cancellation to Hamada at a test screening of Black Adam.
Both Bilall Fallah and Adil El Arbi are credited as directors, and the picture stars Leslie Grace. The company had already spent $90 million on post-production for its HBO Max original film. According to Zaslav’s plan, Batgirl isn’t good enough for a theatrical release and is too pricey for a streaming release, therefore the studio decided to pass on releasing it to Hamada. Because of the need to reduce expenses, the studio has opted to entirely shelve the project. It has been reported that Hamada is dissatisfied that he was not contacted previously and is worried about the effect on the actors and crew.
Before the artists and their reps could be properly informed, the cancellation was reported by the New York Post on August 2. The report states that the picture received poor reviews and was labelled “irredeemable.” When DC was still reeling from the financial losses and critical backlash of 2017’s Justice League, that’s when New Line Cinema’s Hamada came on board. During his time at DC, the studio released several critically acclaimed films, including Joker (directed by Todd Phillip and starring Joaquin Phoenix) and The Suicide Squad (directed by James Gunn) and The Batman (directed by Matt Reeves & starring Robert Pattinson).
Under Hamada’s guidance, DC has produced a mix of loosely related and stand-alone stories rather than aiming for an interwoven world like Marvel. It remains to be seen what the future of DC movies holds, despite the fact that numerous series and movies have been cancelled in the aftermath of Zaslav’s new administration.