Warner Bros. Discovery CEO Shoots Down Plans for More Streaming-Exclusive Movies
In the year since Warner Bros. Discovery's merger was complete, CEO David Zaslav has made headlines for a number of reasons. Perhaps the most surprising has been the pivot away from streaming-exclusive movies under Zaslav's tenure, including the high-profile cancellation of Batgirl in August of last year. In the time since that decision, Zaslav has indicated that the goal is to exclusively premiere Warner Bros. movies in theaters, before later debuting them on the Max streaming service. Zaslav reiterated this mindset while presenting Warner Bros. Discovery's upcoming films at the CinemaCon convention.
"We do not believe in streaming movies," Zaslav explained. "Movies [in theaters] perform substantially better when we bring them to HBO Max than any of the direct-to-streaming movies. We said it nine months ago, and we said it six moths ago. We have never felt stronger about it... There's no purer form of storytelling than the motion picture business. … [WBD is] not in the retail business, not in cable, not broadband, not phone. We are just storytellers."
"We are up to 16 movies, and we want to do more than 20 [a year]," Zaslav said of Warner Bros.' quantity of movies. "We are all in over the next couple of years with motion picture storytelling, but we do need your help," he noted, asking for theater owners who haven't to step up their game. We need to innovate the experience. To focus on getting people into the theaters, in an environment that continues to be contemporary. A lot if what you are doing has been helping. If we can do that, this industry will be stronger than it's ever been."
Why was Batgirl cancelled?
Batgirl was directed by Bilall Fallah and Adil El Arbi, with a script written by Christina Hodson. The film would've starred Leslie Grace as Barbara Gordon / Batgirl, with JK Simmons reprising his role as Commissioner James Gordon, and Michael Keaton reprising his role as Bruce Wayne / Batman. Also joining the cast was Ivory Aquino as Alysia Yeoh, and Jacob Scipio, Rebecca Front, Corey Johnson, and Ethan Kai cast in currently-unknown roles.
"The decision to not release Batgirl reflects our leadership's strategic shift as it relates to the DC universe and HBO Max," a Warner Bros. spokesperson said in a statement when the cancellation was first confirmed. "Leslie Grace is an incredibly talented actor and this decision is not a reflection of her performance. We are incredibly grateful to the filmmakers of Batgirl and Scoob! Holiday Haunt and their respective casts and we hope to collaborate with everyone again in the near future."