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Studios have been slow to fully embrace streaming, even rushing full-speed back to theaters in the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic. The notion they would latch onto Netflix’s market correction as justification for reversing course on some major streaming exclusives falls right in line with their traditional attitudes.
Still, in the case of Batgirl, there’s more than a little reasoning behind it. The Batman made $750 million at the box office, before heading to HBO Max and delivering huge numbers there. Bringing Batgirl to cinemas could also help quell criticism that Warners has plans to send characters like Batgirl and Blue Beetle to HBO Max, while The Flash and Batman get big theatrical releases. In addition to the real-world optics issue — characters of color being relegated to second-class treatment in the eyes of the audience — there’s the practical consideration, too. Characters with less global awareness can use the boost of a theatrical release to expand their brand appeal, potentially creating something for WBD that’s greater than the sum of its parts, like Marvel and James Gunn did with Guardians of the Galaxy.
Discovery executives signaled early that they did not plan on investing as aggressively into HBO Max as did their predecessors. That’s a risky strategy, since streaming remains the future of the industry, and AT&T Time Warner’s approach had catapulted the service to the forefront of the streaming conversation and given Netflix and Disney+ a real run for their money. Still, in terms of short-term gains, it’s hard to argue that Warner Bros. Discovery might not be happier overall if they can rake in a couple of hundred million dollars from even a modest hit, before moving it to HBO Max and earning virtually identical numbers.
Such a strategy would use the popularity and ubiquity of streaming to bolster movies like The Suicide Squad, which earned love from fans and critics but failed to set the box office on fire. In a theatrical environment more and more driven by risky, expensive movies, such a strategy has to be appealing to fiscally conservative executives who are trying to compete with the likes of Disney but don’t want to spend $200 million on every release to do it.
Currently, Batgirl is expected to hit HBO Max later in 2022 (or, given the many delays of DC-branded content recently, in 2023, after the release of The Flash).
