DC Films like Batgirl will likely no longer be an HBO Max exclusive as a new mandate prioritizes Warner Bros. big-budget movies for theatres first. In light of the Warner Bros. Discovery merger, the studio’s CEO David Zaslav has reportedly made significant changes to their film slate’s release strategy including steering clear from overspending – which seems to be the reason behind Wonder Twins‘ cancellation.
Warner Bros. Discovery’s desire to rebuild its approach towards IP like DC film has been public knowledge for a while, in fact, it was also reported that Zaslav was remodeling the DC Entertainment franchise with a chief executive like MCU’s Kevin Feige overseeing creative decisions of all DC content. Additionally, one of the rebuilding approaches was initially rumored (reported by That Hashtag Show) to have resulted in the axing of Wonder Twins and the new report from THR reaffirms the project is dead. But that inadvertently might also shift Batgirl’s release to theatre first.

batgirl set photo cropped
The reasons behind Wonder Twins cancellation are tied to the film concept being “too niche” and its massive $75 million budget for an HBO Max original movie. The trade also states that Zaslav intends to limit HBO Max exclusive project’s budget to $35M or lesser. The move comes with the reasoning that mid-budget flicks do more to add subs for the OTT while big-budget titles don’t provide much value in the same argument. Whereas titles intended for the big screen and later released on the streaming platform after its theatre window do a better job at pulling numbers to the service, as The Batman is the best finest example.
Several insiders are already stating the Batgirl could earn a theatre release due to the studio potentially deciding to bank more profit from a $75 million budget project. However, no announcements were made earlier during the Warner Bros. Discovery Upfront. Batgirl is yet to receive a release date and with The Flash set to land in June 2023, Leslie Grace’s debut as Barbara Gordon may have to wait longer.
What do you think of WBD’s move to shift Batgirl to the theater first? let us know in the comments section or tweet out to our writer @RAKarthikPrasad on Twitter.
