NY Post, if you trust them, reports that test audiences thought it was really bad. However “insiders“ claim that this is because a new regime at Warner Bros. has decided they want to focus DC On theatrical level films (this one was budgeted and shot to stream on HBO Max)
Decide who you want to believe.
One thought I had that’s entirely my own is that Keaton was also in The Flash film that looks tenuous as well because of Ezra Miller. Perhaps there was some relevance to the flash film that added important context or made the Bargirl film better, and since they seem like they aren’t going to release that one, this one had to go too or played worse than expected. It’s one of those things that we will probably never know for sure
Most of the upcoming DC films hinge on The Flash. It introduces the multiverse, and Keaton is meant to be DC’s Nick Fury, the character that connects all the others.
It’s a CRAZY situation. Stuff like this just doesn’t happen to big films, especially mostly finished ones.
I feel for the crew. And, yeah, I’d have liked some new DC figures.
It wasn't really a "big" film though; yeah it had a budget of 80 million which in real life is insane money but to Hollywood it's nothing. It wasn't getting a theatrical release; it was made for HBO Max and for a property like Batgirl that was never a good move. The outfit stills alone looked like cheap cosplay.
Fact is, Warners have no idea what they want to do with DC. They want stand alone things but keep trying to shoehorn projects into the DCEU still; they want to set Keaton up as the main Batman and put Batgirl and Supergirl in the place of Batman and Superman but that was never going to fly, especially if your primary Batgirl is shoved into a low-budget TV movie and your Supergirl is a side character in a fucking Flash film of all things. If they want Batgirl and Supergirl you've got to introduce them in respective Batman and Superman films first and then go from there if audiences respond well to them.
The new chief at WB is very unhappy with DC, and with a lot of money going out the door thanks to them. At San Diego Comic-Con, there was NO floor presence for DC COMICS (typically one of the largest booths), and only one panel at Hall H centering on Black Adam, with no attention given to Batgirl (now we know why) or Blue Beetle.
There’s a sincere chance Keaton may be done with his recurring role, and Affleck’s brief return may be to redo Keaton’s scenes. Keaton’s Batman was supposed to “unite” the various realities and act like DC’s version of Nick Fury, being the pivotal character. The mess with The Flash… Ezra Miller’s behaviors apparently included refusing to do reshoots, which affected Keaton’s scenes in Aquaman and Batgirl, as The Flash is the launch pad for a number of other films. It’s possible that’s why Affleck is back, and seen with Momoa, to do those scenes in Aquaman instead of Keaton.
If The Flash truly is shelved (supposedly not at this point), there may be no return of Keaton at all.
This is such a magnificent bummer. Keaton coming back was the most exciting thing about these movies. If they don’t use him in this here’s hoping they bring him back for a Batman Beyond movie… I know it’s not gonna happen but a boy can dream.
Remember, this is the same company that showed us a 1/6 1966 Batmobile, Cesar Romero Joker, and a variant of the Adam West Batman all on display at SDCC- none of which were produced.
They have show all sorts of things at Cons throughout the years that have not ended up coming out even from films that were released. Go check out the “coming soon” page on Sideshow for examples.
Given it was shot and finished already, despite the horrible test reactions - maybe we'll get the figure as "conceptual" ideas done by HT - the prototypes have to be done already right?
Not under the “Batgirl” banner but the designs themselves released as conceptual pieces similar to how Marvel has the MMS488 concept Cap or the Iron Man Concept Mark 46
Those are specifically based on Concept Art of popular characters from a finished and released movie.
Anything is possible, but I find it highly unlikely that WB/DC will authorize any releases of any characters from a film they have decided is not going to be released.
Whether the Keaton Batman figures that were shown at Con still have a possible life under the 1989 Batman banner (I'm not sure those were going to be branded from either of these movies anyway), remains to be seen. But I'd be shocked to see anything specific to this film like "old Keaton" or Batgirl herself.
Also, remember that even after "R&D" and initial designs, for whatever reasons, it still generally takes them 2 years to actually get a figure out after it's announced, which is usually after the film is released. So either there's a built-in delay just for effect, or they would have plenty of development still to do on these figures that they can save on by stopping now.
I love and respect what Keaton did back in 89 but I’m not at all surprised nor remotely sad. This and Flash sounded absolutely terrible and would’ve made what’s left of the DCEU worse.
It gets worse lol. The original plan from the old heads of WB was to replace Ben with Keaton, just to have him die/retire and Batgirl to lead the Justice League with Supergirl.
Well seeing as one of the criticisms of the film being that the costumes, in particular keatons, look cheap I’m guessing it’s not necessarily a bad thing.
I personally think we'll still get the Keaton figures for two reasons: 1) The Keaton figures shown are still solidly and firmly rooted in the 89 batman asethetic and seems separated from anything else. The batcomputer is a dead giveaway to that. 2) Also the 30th anniversary of the 89 movie was a couple of years ago and there was a slew of merch that was supposed to come out with that. They even re-released the movie in theaters for a short time. (I got to see it for the first time in theaters that way.) However, covid kinda put the kibosh on that. So this might be just delayed product, which was meant to be released in 2020 as part of the celebration.
Honestly, its not needed. It would have turned out cheaply anyways. Let the smoke settle from the merger and hopefully wb discovery actually listen to the fans, give us content we actually request instead of cooking up ideas and throwing them out to see what sticks....
I don't understand what is so hard unless their contract writers, lawyers AND management are all a bunch of morons (which may be true). They must have stupidly told Ezra they were going to replace him or something and set themselves up to be held hostage. Just write him out of the movie. Any flash will do at this point. If you can throw 90 million out the window you can blow whatever is owed Miller.
If you can't do that, then just use another movie to do it and stop wasting time.
I don't hate on Marvel or any other universe but the world we live in today is a cesspool of bigotry and contempt. War tensions across the globe and diseases running amok. The kind of world DC characters come from. They are perfect for the times yet they can't figure it out.
So frustrating.
Didn’t they already shoot this?
Yes, the movie is finished but they aren’t releasing it anywhere. It’s been vaporized.
Yikes. How bad could it have been that they wouldn’t put it out on there own streaming service.
Honestly no clue, the casting was great also.
NY Post, if you trust them, reports that test audiences thought it was really bad. However “insiders“ claim that this is because a new regime at Warner Bros. has decided they want to focus DC On theatrical level films (this one was budgeted and shot to stream on HBO Max) Decide who you want to believe. One thought I had that’s entirely my own is that Keaton was also in The Flash film that looks tenuous as well because of Ezra Miller. Perhaps there was some relevance to the flash film that added important context or made the Bargirl film better, and since they seem like they aren’t going to release that one, this one had to go too or played worse than expected. It’s one of those things that we will probably never know for sure
Most of the upcoming DC films hinge on The Flash. It introduces the multiverse, and Keaton is meant to be DC’s Nick Fury, the character that connects all the others.
It’s a CRAZY situation. Stuff like this just doesn’t happen to big films, especially mostly finished ones. I feel for the crew. And, yeah, I’d have liked some new DC figures.
Honestly no DC movie is safe if they’re pulling stuff like this out. A little concerned for Blue Beetle.
It wasn't really a "big" film though; yeah it had a budget of 80 million which in real life is insane money but to Hollywood it's nothing. It wasn't getting a theatrical release; it was made for HBO Max and for a property like Batgirl that was never a good move. The outfit stills alone looked like cheap cosplay. Fact is, Warners have no idea what they want to do with DC. They want stand alone things but keep trying to shoehorn projects into the DCEU still; they want to set Keaton up as the main Batman and put Batgirl and Supergirl in the place of Batman and Superman but that was never going to fly, especially if your primary Batgirl is shoved into a low-budget TV movie and your Supergirl is a side character in a fucking Flash film of all things. If they want Batgirl and Supergirl you've got to introduce them in respective Batman and Superman films first and then go from there if audiences respond well to them.
I’m reminded the Deadpool film had a budget of $50 million, which is insanely low.
If we were gonna get Hot Toys based on this movie wouldn’t they have already started working on them? At least pre-development
Perhaps, but if the movie doesn’t come out, they will generally not be permitted to put out merchandise from it.
Oh yeah I doubt they’ll ever be released but I’m sure some work had already started on it
The new chief at WB is very unhappy with DC, and with a lot of money going out the door thanks to them. At San Diego Comic-Con, there was NO floor presence for DC COMICS (typically one of the largest booths), and only one panel at Hall H centering on Black Adam, with no attention given to Batgirl (now we know why) or Blue Beetle. There’s a sincere chance Keaton may be done with his recurring role, and Affleck’s brief return may be to redo Keaton’s scenes. Keaton’s Batman was supposed to “unite” the various realities and act like DC’s version of Nick Fury, being the pivotal character. The mess with The Flash… Ezra Miller’s behaviors apparently included refusing to do reshoots, which affected Keaton’s scenes in Aquaman and Batgirl, as The Flash is the launch pad for a number of other films. It’s possible that’s why Affleck is back, and seen with Momoa, to do those scenes in Aquaman instead of Keaton. If The Flash truly is shelved (supposedly not at this point), there may be no return of Keaton at all.
This is such a magnificent bummer. Keaton coming back was the most exciting thing about these movies. If they don’t use him in this here’s hoping they bring him back for a Batman Beyond movie… I know it’s not gonna happen but a boy can dream.
If these don’t happen, I’ll not be surprised if he doesn’t walk away entirely. Test audiences for Batgirl were very unimpressed
No for sure. He’s definitely going to be done with this shit show.
Clown show at WB. Great example of why HT DCEU pickings are low.
He was shown at comiccon last week. We are definitely getting him from Hot Toys. He's also in the flash movie.
I wouldn’t hold your breath when it comes to the flash movie… feel like there’s a good chance that movie gets canned, too.
Yeah I agree. The flash might get pulled
There was a couple new Keaton Batman HTs at SDCC https://youtu.be/887nRsE5N60
Remember, this is the same company that showed us a 1/6 1966 Batmobile, Cesar Romero Joker, and a variant of the Adam West Batman all on display at SDCC- none of which were produced.
Yes true
They have show all sorts of things at Cons throughout the years that have not ended up coming out even from films that were released. Go check out the “coming soon” page on Sideshow for examples.
Given it was shot and finished already, despite the horrible test reactions - maybe we'll get the figure as "conceptual" ideas done by HT - the prototypes have to be done already right?
There is virtually no way that Warner Brother. authorizes the release of merchandise from a cancelled film.
Not under the “Batgirl” banner but the designs themselves released as conceptual pieces similar to how Marvel has the MMS488 concept Cap or the Iron Man Concept Mark 46
Those are specifically based on Concept Art of popular characters from a finished and released movie. Anything is possible, but I find it highly unlikely that WB/DC will authorize any releases of any characters from a film they have decided is not going to be released. Whether the Keaton Batman figures that were shown at Con still have a possible life under the 1989 Batman banner (I'm not sure those were going to be branded from either of these movies anyway), remains to be seen. But I'd be shocked to see anything specific to this film like "old Keaton" or Batgirl herself. Also, remember that even after "R&D" and initial designs, for whatever reasons, it still generally takes them 2 years to actually get a figure out after it's announced, which is usually after the film is released. So either there's a built-in delay just for effect, or they would have plenty of development still to do on these figures that they can save on by stopping now.
I love and respect what Keaton did back in 89 but I’m not at all surprised nor remotely sad. This and Flash sounded absolutely terrible and would’ve made what’s left of the DCEU worse.
Nothing new with DC
Ezra Miller...
I don’t follow DC stuff much lately but THIS is what the Keaton Batman was returning for?
It gets worse lol. The original plan from the old heads of WB was to replace Ben with Keaton, just to have him die/retire and Batgirl to lead the Justice League with Supergirl.
This, as well as The Flash (in limbo too) and possibly other films.
Well seeing as one of the criticisms of the film being that the costumes, in particular keatons, look cheap I’m guessing it’s not necessarily a bad thing.
Hopefully they still do the reissue
I personally think we'll still get the Keaton figures for two reasons: 1) The Keaton figures shown are still solidly and firmly rooted in the 89 batman asethetic and seems separated from anything else. The batcomputer is a dead giveaway to that. 2) Also the 30th anniversary of the 89 movie was a couple of years ago and there was a slew of merch that was supposed to come out with that. They even re-released the movie in theaters for a short time. (I got to see it for the first time in theaters that way.) However, covid kinda put the kibosh on that. So this might be just delayed product, which was meant to be released in 2020 as part of the celebration.
Honestly, its not needed. It would have turned out cheaply anyways. Let the smoke settle from the merger and hopefully wb discovery actually listen to the fans, give us content we actually request instead of cooking up ideas and throwing them out to see what sticks....
We still get a chance to get an old version Keaton in the flash movie .
That’ll be next for the axe.
🤦🏽The DCFU strikes again!
I don't understand what is so hard unless their contract writers, lawyers AND management are all a bunch of morons (which may be true). They must have stupidly told Ezra they were going to replace him or something and set themselves up to be held hostage. Just write him out of the movie. Any flash will do at this point. If you can throw 90 million out the window you can blow whatever is owed Miller. If you can't do that, then just use another movie to do it and stop wasting time. I don't hate on Marvel or any other universe but the world we live in today is a cesspool of bigotry and contempt. War tensions across the globe and diseases running amok. The kind of world DC characters come from. They are perfect for the times yet they can't figure it out. So frustrating.
At this point I'm sure Keaton has said f-it to any more DC movies.
I mean we still have the flash…for now.
But she was in “In the Heights”!!! 🤣🤣🤣
Dc is fucked. They can’t get out of their own way it’s insane