It’s been a rough and challenging week for the DC Universe, and more upheavals are coming and expected. In a telltale sign that Discovery’s mid-2022 acquisition of Warner Bros. could lead to major shakeups, not long after the sale went through, WB’s planned “Wonder Twins” film was killed even after casting was announced. This week, in more shocking news, Discovery pulled the plug on their mostly-finished* “Batgirl” film due to, well, myriad reasons which we’ll get to (*shot, but not fully completed, edited, or VFX-rendered on top of the music, mixing, etc.).
But in a new Rolling Stone piece documenting the reasons for shelving the $90 million “Batgirl” film starring “In The Heights” breakout lead Leslie Grace, the magazine also adds that a planned “Supergirl” currently in development and meant to star Sasha Calle won’t be moving forward.
Let’s unpack that a little bit. When Zack Snyder’s so-called Synderverse had fallen apart circa 2016 after the failure of “Justice League” and Henry Cavill’s negotiations with Warner Bros for more appearances had stalled, the company thought to pivot away from Superman and hired “Cloverfield Paradox” writer Oren Uziel to pen a “Supergirl” movie in 2018. It’s unclear what happened with the development of that film—and at one point, it seemed like they were actively moving away from that plan and hoping to bring Superman back—but Supergirl is coming. Probably.
Let’s unpack that part a bit more. A “Supergirl” has been cast. Sasha Calle, who is probably best known for her role in “The Young and the Restless,” was cast in the role for “The Flash” movie in February of 2021. Her part is done and shot (google set photos or look through social media, they are there), and so she’s in the movie. That is… if “The Flash” movie comes out in the form that it’s in now.
And now, let’s back up a little bit. As you likely know, “The Flash” centers on Michael Keaton’s late ’80s Batman from the Tim Burton films. Why? Because it’s a multiverse film. And the original plan of the movie was to reset the DCEU and get around its problems with casting. Because Henry Cavill’s negotiations were at an impasse, additional talks haven’t yielded much it seems, and Ben Affleck wanted out of the DCEU entirely. His one graceful move was appearing in “The Flash” so audiences could say goodbye to his character (take his fate in the movie whatever way you want though it seems obvious, but Affleck has already described the ‘Flash’ appearance as a “really nice finish” for his character).
That was the plan before “The Flash was made, and through the multiverse, Calle’s Supergirl would be introduced too. In short, no Affleck and no Cavill? That’s ok, we got Michael Keaton’s Batman instead, and through multiverse retcon shenanigans, there is no Superman, only a Supergirl on Earth.
But as we know, the DCEU is in major flux thanks to all this Discover, and Warner Bros. business which is only going to get more complicated following the Warner Bros. Discovery second-quarter earnings call set for tomorrow and whatever is revealed there (probably HBO Max and Discovery+ merging, for one).
Complicating matters (deep breath, ok?), Michael Keaton’s Batman has been scrubbed from two films now. He was supposed to appear in “Aquaman 2,” and he was supposed to star in “Batgirl,” which was canceled, so now it appears, though it’s not confirmed, that Warner Bros. is moving away from this “Michael Keaton takes over as Batman” ideas. Furthermore, there’s the Ezra Miller of it all, the embattled actor who’s somehow managed to garner more negative press this year than Johnny Depp and Amber Heard combined for various toxic transgressions (read more here).
The short version about “The Flash” is this: Because of Miller’s various PR disasters and because of all the rumors of recasting the actor, “The Flash” was likely going to undergo reshoots anyhow. But if the “Supergirl” film isn’t moving forward and Michael Keaton’s Batman appearances are being killed, doesn’t this strongly suggest that Warner Bros. no longer wants to move forward with this multiverse plan? And if Calle and Keaton do appear in the movie, it’ll be more of a multiverse visitation, ala “Spider-Man: No Way Home,” rather than a permanent multiverse change?
While none of that is confirmed, it is definitely starting to smell that way. The current rumor of the day is that while “The Flash” is currently scheduled for summer 2023, WB has quietly undated the movie and trying to figure out what to do with it. There are more rumored DC release date shifts coming tomorrow (read more here), and I think the best we can say is if you’re interested in these stories, hold on, because it’s a moving target that’s in flux, and we expect to keep reporting a lot of changes in the upcoming days and weeks.
Oh, and “Batgirl” of it all and why? Well, it’s a confluence of things as usual, but most of the trades have pointed to tax write-downs, Discovery canceling “Batgirl” and not having to mark it down in their fiscal year, or what have you. But in this new Rolling Stone piece, there are lots of questions about the film’s quality (just as the original New York Post piece suggested)
While some have pointed to positive test screenings, RS sources say, “while Grace’s performance was embraced, the overall feedback was harsh.” One of RS’s sources likened the film to “a bad episode of TV,” while another said, “it’s definitely not theatrical.” And Discovery Warner CEO David Zaslav has handed down a mandate that DC films must be released theatrically or not at all. So, take all those elements together, shake them up, and there’s your “reason,” really.
Why not throw more money at it and make it better? RS says the consensus was that they’d basically have to double the budget at least and rewrite so much of the movie to make it the big theatrical spectacle that Zaslav wants all these movies to be. The decision was made “to not throw bad money after good,” apparently. More soon, and probably tomorrow. But if this RS report is correct, the “Supergirl” film is not moving forward, and we won’t even get into the bad optics of that one for now.