[Film] Batgirl

[Isgrimnur]

Variety

Batgirl is flying solo. The superheroine is getting her own standalone movie from filmmaker Joss Whedon.

Whedon is nearing a deal to write, direct, and produce an untitled Batgirl pic for Warner Bros. as part of its DC Extended Universe.

No other producers are currently attached. Toby Emmerich, president and chief content officer of Warner Bros. Pictures Group is overseeing with Jon Berg and Geoff Johns. The new project originated in the past month.
...
The studio is also developing a “Suicide Squad” sequel and “Gotham City Sirens,” a spinoff to “Suicide Squad” with Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn character; “The Batman,” starring Ben Affleck with Matt Reeves directing; a “Shazam” film and a Black Adam spinoff starring Dwayne Johnson; and projects based on the Flash and Cyborg characters.

[Suitably Ironic Moniker]

Traitor to Marvel!!

[Suitably Ironic Moniker]

[tgb]

Unless they make this in a deliberately campy style like Austin Powers, I just don't see a movie called "BatGIRL" flying (pun intended) in today's market.

[El Guapo]

eh, that's the character's name. If the movie is good, then people will go see it.

[Suitably Ironic Moniker]

Supergirl is doing alright on the CW. Besides, Batgirl is a separate character from Batwoman.

[LordMortis]

Unless they make this in a deliberately campy style like Austin Powers, I just don't see a movie called "BatGIRL" flying (pun intended) in today's market.

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/movies/?id ... rs2016.htm

Total Lifetime Grosses
Domestic: $128,350,574 56.0%
+ Foreign: $100,796,935 44.0%
= Worldwide: $229,147,509

And that's not for Joss Whedon vehicle who has made his bread and butter taking something, designing it to appeal to tween girl fantasy life and then broadening it to a mass audience.

[Smoove_B]

Seriously. If anyone is going to crush a Batgirl film script my money would be on Joss Whedon.

[tgb]

The point about Supergirl is well -taken. It's possible I'm wrong. I thought I was wrong once before but it turned out I was mistaken.

[Malificent]

The current run of Batgirl comics are pretty damn good too. I won't hold out hope that we'll see the Birds of Prey involved in this, but source material is good and in Joss I trust.

[sgoldj]

With Whedon attached I am a lot more optimistic than my "cross my fingers and hold my breath, I really want Wonder Woman and Justice League to be good"attitude. Is it bad of me to NOT want this as part of the movie DCEU and would rather it be a live action extension of the animated universe? I know it sounds cynical, but I still am disappointed by Dawn of Justice and Suicide Squad.

[Isgrimnur]

EW

Sources tell EW that this version will be Barbara Gordon, daughter of Commissioner Gordon, and the movie will use the DC Comics “New 52” version of the character as a starting point.

In that timeline, launched in 2011, Barbara Gordon has recovered from a paralyzing spinal injury notoriously inflicted on her by the Joker in the 1988 graphic novel The Killing Joke. In the earlier books, that damage confined her to a wheelchair and ended her flying, swinging, punching career as Batgirl — but she continued to fight the good fight under the name Oracle as a super-hacker.

The New 52 books feature her several years after the Joker attack, having recovered full mobility after experimental surgery, although she is still haunted by the near-death experience.

It’s unclear how much of that series, written by Gail Simone, will be incorporated into Whedon’s film, but sources tell EW the movie will follow Simone’s harder-edged storyline rather than the more comical, playful “Batgirl of Burnside” series that was rebooted in 2014, featuring the hero as a social-media obsessed student living in a hipster neighborhood of Gotham.

[Blackhawk]

The current run of Batgirl comics are pretty damn good too. I won't hold out hope that we'll see the Birds of Prey involved in this, but source material is good and in Joss I trust.

It's the New 52 version, they've already introduced Katana, and they're doing a Gotham City Sirens film, which will bring Poison Ivy into the franchise. I'd be surprised if there weren't at least some hint of Birds of Prey in there.

[Isgrimnur]

Whedon out

Whedon, the creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer among other pop culture touchstones, is exiting the Warner Bros. feature project which he was writing and slated to direct.

“Batgirl is such an exciting project, and Warners/DC such collaborative and supportive partners, that it took me months to realize I really didn’t have a story,” Whedon told The Hollywood Reporter in a statement. Referring to DC president Geoff Johns and Warners Picture Group president Toby Emmerich, Whedon added, “I’m grateful to Geoff and Toby and everyone who was so welcoming when I arrived, and so understanding when I… uh, is there a sexier word for ‘failed’?”
...
But sources say that Whedon, after a year of trying, could not crack the code of what a Batgirl movie should be.

If only there had been some source material that he could have adapted or from which he could have drawn inspiration...

[gameoverman]

I think he had it figured out. I think they signed off on it. Then subsequent events made his approach, and their overall approach, obsolete. I bet he was game to try a new direction but at that point the studio had no idea what that direction would be. Next thing you know, he gets tired of waiting and it's goodbye.

[El Guapo]

I assume there's more to it than that. It's not like Whedon can't figure out how to tell an interesting story.

[Blackhawk]

I assume there's more to it than that. It's not like Whedon can't figure out how to tell an interesting story.

About a young girl with the ability to fight evil.

[Freyland]

I read that kept trying to make the batarangs out of wood....

[Hrothgar]

I assume there's more to it than that. It's not like Whedon can't figure out how to tell an interesting story.

There was that Me Too trouble he had last year that might have soured the relationship.

[Grifman]

I assume there's more to it than that. It's not like Whedon can't figure out how to tell an interesting story.

There was that Me Too trouble he had last year that might have soured the relationship.

I suspect that was the real reason. I don't buy the "I couldn't figure out the story" excuse. The guy who responsible for Buffy and Firefly? Please . . .

[YellowKing]

I've long thought that DC's plan for Batman should be to attack it from a different angle. The core franchise has too much baggage, but there's a ton to explore if you focus on side characters like Nightwing, Batgirl, etc. And you can't tell me you can't make great movies off of less popular heroes - Marvel's proven it a number of times.

I'd love to see a female director brought in for this one.

[Blackhawk]

Detective Comics has had some great runs lately focusing on the 'Batman Family', with the interplay between Batman, Batgirl, Batwoman, the Robins (Nightwing, Damian Wayne, Red Robin, and The Red Hood), and a few other characters that non-fans wouldn't even recognize (Spoiler, Azrael, Orphan), and even a semi-reformed Clayface.

I'd love, love, love to see a Robins movie. The four are completely different, often at odds, but loyal due to their connection through Batman. It makes for some great interplay, and would make for some fantastic storytelling. And hell, they've already laid the groundwork for Red Hood in the DCEU.

[El Guapo]

I assume there's more to it than that. It's not like Whedon can't figure out how to tell an interesting story.

There was that Me Too trouble he had last year that might have soured the relationship.

I suspect that was the real reason. I don't buy the "I couldn't figure out the story" excuse. The guy who responsible for Buffy and Firefly? Please . . .

I dunno. So far all I've read is that Whedon has had multiple (consensual) affairs. Not that those aren't big deals on a personal level, but that sort of thing isn't a career-derailer these days. In some ways all the MeToo allegations would help, I would think, because his conduct looks much better relative to all the allegations that have come out. Unless there's more to it that I know.

My guess would be more the general corporate / management dysfunction that seems to plague the DC side of things.

[JSHAW]

Slightly hard for me to believe that a man that writes and makes stuff up for a living can't pull together a story for Batgirl.

There should be enough source material for him to borrow from and use that, throw in some of his on style and call it a wrap.

Unlike the success of Wonder Woman I don't think anybody doing Batgirl is gonna have a runaway bullet train of success with it.

[Kraken]

Unlike the success of Wonder Woman I don't think anybody doing Batgirl is gonna have a runaway bullet train of success with it.

Which might have been Whedon's take on it, too. One can only produce a finite number of movies in one lifetime, and Whedon can afford to be choosy. If he didn't think he could hit Batgirl out of the park, moving on is the right decision.

[Hrothgar]

I assume there's more to it than that. It's not like Whedon can't figure out how to tell an interesting story.

There was that Me Too trouble he had last year that might have soured the relationship.

I suspect that was the real reason. I don't buy the "I couldn't figure out the story" excuse. The guy who responsible for Buffy and Firefly? Please . . .

I dunno. So far all I've read is that Whedon has had multiple (consensual) affairs. Not that those aren't big deals on a personal level, but that sort of thing isn't a career-derailer these days. In some ways all the MeToo allegations would help, I would think, because his conduct looks much better relative to all the allegations that have come out. Unless there's more to it that I know.

My guess would be more the general corporate / management dysfunction that seems to plague the DC side of things.

I thought one of the key Me Too questions was can you have a consensual sexual relationship with someone who works for you? When is it not an abuse of power? Perhaps I misinterpreted things.

[Blackhawk]

Slightly hard for me to believe that a man that writes and makes stuff up for a living can't pull together a story for Batgirl.

I wouldn't be surprised if he was able to pull together some great stories for Batgirl, but that DC vetoed them. Rumor is that he wanted to tell the original Batgirl story from her first introduction, while DC was wanting something based more on the New 52 re-origin from just a few years ago, with a former Batgirl recovering from an injury and reclaiming the mantle.

[Isgrimnur]

Aaaaand ... cancelled :

Warner Bros. Discovery will not release “Batgirl,” either theatrically or on HBO MAX, TheWrap has learned. The $90 million project is effectively dead.

Made under a previous regime, “Batgirl” was initially designed to be an HBO Max release, and then was being considered for theatrical distribution. Due to COVID issues and shutdowns, the budget ballooned to $90 million.

[Baroquen]

Wow - the film already costing $90 million, and in post-production, and they just shelve the whole thing. What a mess.

[hepcat]

Someone’s career in Hollywood is over, I’d say.

[Isgrimnur]

Nah, the persons responsible have already been sacked by the new management.

[hepcat]

And those responsible for sacking those who have just been sacked have been sacked.

[pr0ner]

Someone’s career in Hollywood is over, I’d say.

In this case? No chance. It's all part of the WB makeover as a result of the Discovery merger.

[stimpy]

I read that the test screening for this was what caused them to pull the plug.
With so much invested, you'd think a few reshoots or something might have helped instead of just shit canning the whole thing.

[Blackhawk]

Unless the reshoots would have been so extensive that it would have eaten up whatever profit they felt they could eke out of it, and unless they felt that another awful DC movie would hurt the brand more than the profits were worth.

#ReleaseTheWhedonCut (Remember when this was supposed to be a Joss Whedon film? Too bad he turned out to be an idiot.)

[Isgrimnur]

(Remember when this was supposed to be a Joss Whedon film? Too bad he turned out to be an idiot asshole.)

Mortoned.

[Scraper]

This movie must be 1990s Fantastic Four levels of bad. I mean DC released Aquaman. Wonder Woman 2 and Suicide Squad (the Leto one). This has to be worse than those movies, which is hard to imagine.

[Blackhawk]

Or the new management has different standards - especially after seeing the impact that bad films had on later ones.

[hepcat]

This movie must be 1990s Fantastic Four levels of bad. I mean DC released Aquaman. Wonder Woman 2 and Suicide Squad (the Leto one). This has to be worse than those movies, which is hard to imagine.

Aquaman wasn't that bad. It's considered Fresh on RT at 65 percent. It certainly wasn't Eternals level of crappy.

[malchior]

Or the new management has different standards - especially after seeing the impact that bad films had on later ones.

It's partly this and partly that the new management appears to be extremely risk averse during the post-merger transition.