Warner Bros. Discovery’s latest decision to scrap the Batgirl movie has shaken the industry. The unprecedented decision has not only left the talent attached to the project shocked and saddened but in the last few days has compelled many people to respond in their own way to the news. Big names like Marvel Studio head Kevin Feige and director James Gunn among others have reached out to directing duo Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah to show support. It’s also reported that David Zaslav’s decision has nearly pushed DC Film president Walter Hamada to quit the studio. The latest studio executive to respond to the shocker is Blumhouse Productions’ Jason Blum.
Batgirl has been one among many who faced the consequences of the latest Warner Bros and Discovery merger. Since March, the new regime has made many strategic shifts in the studio like getting rid of most of the scripted content, changes in the hybrid release system, and more. During WB’s recent earning call, Zaslav reasoned that the objective is to grow the brand and more importantly “to protect the DC brand.” He said, “We’re not going to put a movie out unless we believe in it, particularly with DC. We're not going to release a film before it's ready."
In a recent chat with Variety, Blum revealed that he understood the studio's decision to scrap the movie that cost $90 million in making and was near completion. He said,
“I was surprised by it but I understood why they chose to do it. You have a new management, so they want a new start and to brand DC in a certain way.
Noting that at Blumhouse Productions, directors “trade big budgets for control” he added, "We borrowed the French auteur system and applied it to very commercial filmmaking. We give them more control than they typically get in Hollywood, but they have to give us something as well: a commitment to make movies inexpensively." Blumhouse is well known to produce horror movies like Whiplash, BlacKkKlansman, Paranormal Activity, Insidious, and many more. The studio is currently celebrating the commercial and critical success of Scott Derrickson’s The Black Phone starring Ethan Hawke, the movie grossed $143 million at the box office on a budget of approximately $18 million.
Further, elaborating on his understanding of WB’s decision Blum explained, “The way studio filmmaking works is correlated to budget, the more expensive the movie, the more time the director is strategizing on how they are going to get their way. On a $200 million movie, the director is spending 80% of their time on politics and 20% actually making the movie. On our $4 million movie, 100% of the time is spent on making a good movie.”
Blum’s remarks certainly line up with Zaslav’s strategy to cut costs and only put out a feature that the new regime believes in. While it is extremely sad for fans, cast, and crew of the Batgirl in a long run the strategy certainly seems to aim at reducing the fan’s complaints about the current DC content strategy.
Check out Collider's previous interview with Blum below: