Warner Bros.’ Batgirl cancellation is likely to earn them some enmity from the audience and the creative community, but in the place Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav cares about — the bottom line — it could save the company about $20 million, according to Deadline. It’s part of an overall attempt by Zaslav to cut about $3 billion from Warner Bros.’ debt right away — a strategy that is particularly important to Warner Bros. Discovery, since the company is massively leveraged. In order to acquire the much-larger Warner Bros. from AT&T, Discovery had to take on debt that amounts significantly more than the company was worth at the time.
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The total debt Warner Bros. Discovery is facing down is reportedly around $55 billion, according to the Financial Times. What all of this means is that a $20 million tax writedown for Batgirl seems like peanuts, but it could be a case where Zaslav is cutting everything he can, as aggressively as he can, figuring that every little bit helps.
It’s also likely that whatever other bad news is coming for DC fans, HBO Max subscribers, and beyond — will be coming soon. According to the story that broke yesterday, many of these cuts are designed to take advantage of a tax loophole that expires this month.
Warner Bros. had reportedly invested as much as $90 million in the Batgirl movie — which starred Michael Keaton as Batman, Leslie Grace as Batgirl, Brendan Fraser as Firefly, and J.K. Simmons as Commissioner Gordon — before Discovery decided to pull the plug. Part of the benefit to Zaslav is that he can blame any losses on the previous regime, since AT&T’s ownership of Warner Bros. was almost exclusively focused on building up the HBO Max app and brand. Zaslav reportedly does not see the value in spending big money on HBO Max exclusives, and wants to cap spending on original movies at around $30 million.
In keeping with that philosophy, before the plug was fully pulled on Batgirl, Zaslav reportedly explored the idea of opening it in theaters. Ultimately, that won’t happen, either — although it is not currently clear whether that is simply a tax consideration or, as was previously reported, a result of a film made for the small screen, which did not “scale up” well for theaters.
For their part, WBD has said that the Batgirl cancellation is part of a broader change in the company’s DC philosophy — something that has fans eager for the Green Lantern series, and movies like Blue Beetle and Zatanna, very nervous today.
