The Batman General News & Discussion Thread - Part 2

[BatsAndNights]

David Zaslav is not going to green-light a dark three hour Batman movie. Reeves, I think, will have to make some concessions and make sure the sequel is more family friendly and toyetic.

We’ll see what happens.

It is literally already happening and the last dark three hour Batman movie made a lot of money.

 

[BatsAndNights]

Ngl, I genuinely don't get how you get from "Zaslav canned a 90 million movie intended for streaming for tax purposes" to "Zaslav wants to cancel The Batman"

 

[emc5466]

It is literally already happening and the last dark three hour Batman movie made a lot of money.

It made less than Aquaman and Joker. Got bodied by Doctor Strange 2.

 

[BatsAndNights]

It made less than Aquaman and Joker. Got bodied by Doctor Strange 2.

3/4's of a billion dollars in 45 days. Without Russia or China.

Movie's financial success isn't this weird dick measuring contest of "X movie made more than Y movie so Y movie flopped". It made a decent profit while being highly disadvantaged on that front. The end.

 

[Gamma Goliath]

We don't need to be worried about the Reevesverse Zaszlav has already praised it, AND confirmed batman 2 is moving forward. Even recently he talked about The success of the Batman and Joker franchise. It's the cheaper, more risk heavy movies we need to be worried about. Static, Black canary, maybe blue beetle, and the both of the black superman projects are probably the most in jeopardy. The James Gunn stuff, and Reeves stuff I'm betting are safe.

 

[Silver Surfer]

The Batman did get a China release:

China Box Office: ‘The Batman’ Flutters to Muted $12.1M Opening

Warner Bros.’ The Batman saw its global earnings blitz slow to a crawl in China over the weekend, with the Matt Reeves-directed blockbuster opening to just $12.1 million. That’s the biggest Hollywood opening in China this year, but not much to brag about. A COVID-19 outbreak and sinking Chinese interest in Hollywood moviemaking were to blame.

Local word of mouth for the brooding-superhero pic was solid — social scores of 7.7 on Douban and 8.9 from major ticketing apps Maoyan and Tao Piao Piao — but fan recognition didn’t translate into significant ticket sales. Maoyan currently projects The Batman to finish its China run with a total of only $26 million.

Box Office: ‘The Batman’ Flutters into China With $12.1M Opening – The Hollywood Reporter

 

[GothamCity]

770 Million is still alot.

Wouldnt be suprised if Reeves only stays as producer after all this stuff.

 

[BatsAndNights]

The Batman did get a China release:



Box Office: ‘The Batman’ Flutters into China With $12.1M Opening – The Hollywood Reporter

It got a China release, it might as well not have because China basically went back into lockdown over COVID at the exact same time so The Batman made virtually zero money from China. Should've worded myself better, but I'm having to repeat myself a lot on this matter

 

[Silver Surfer]

770 Million is still alot.

Wouldnt be suprised if Reeves only stays as producer after all this stuff.

It should be a lot, but will it be for Zaslav? There's plausible reason to worry it might not be.

 

[GothamCity]

No, 770million is enough really.

 

[BatsAndNights]

It should be a lot, but will it be for Zaslav? There's plausible reason to worry it might not be.

There's virtually no realistic situation in movie making where 770 million dollars isn't a financial success. Even if The Batman had double its budget, that'd still break even (or fall just short depending on where the budget sat in the 185-200 million range). He would essentially need to lack understanding of basic economics and how movies make profit which I somewhat doubt is the case for a dude who's the CEO of Warner Brothers.

 

[Gamma Goliath]

I'm not convinced there's plausible reason for batman making less 1 billion to be a worry. Let's not forget how many delays it had both during filming and in release schedule, and it released during a pandemic (tail end of the worst of it but still). And you also can't discount its performance on HBOmax which Zaszlav/WB openly praised too. The next movie could very well make a billion given the world isn't in a pandemic again.

 

[Kane52630]

Zaslav pretty much pulled Batgirl for petty reasons, he is clearly on a mission.

 

[Silver Surfer]

There's virtually no possible situation in movie making where 770 million dollars isn't a financial success. Even if The Batman had double its budget, that'd still be a profit. He would essentially need to lack understanding of basic economics and how movies make profit which I somewhat doubt is the case for a dude who's the CEO of Warner Brothers.

It's about expectations, Zaslav's, nobody else's. We've seen this with other movie studios. ASM2 made similar money, but wasn't up to Sony's expectations. BVS made more money, wasn't up to WB's expectations.

Zaslav might want Batman 2 to be a mass appeal movie and be the centre of a DC cinematic universe, while Reeves could just want to just make a true sequel. That is a plausible scenario now.

 

[Iceman]

Zaslav pretty much pulled Batgirl for petty reasons, he is clearly on a mission.

Exactly the kind of person we don’t need up there to take things forward after all the mistakes of the past.

 

[Silver Surfer]

Exactly the kind of person we don’t need up there to take things forward after all the mistakes of the past.

I'm scared as F for Dune 3's chances...

 

[Iceman]

I'm scared as F for Dune 3's chances...

It’s not looking good unfortunately, unless Dune 2 outperforms.

 

[BatsAndNights]

It's about expectations, Zaslav's, nobody else's. We've seen this with other movie studios. ASM2 made similar money, but wasn't up to Sony's expectations. BVS made more money, wasn't up to WB's expectations.

Zaslav might want Batman 2 to be a mass appeal movie and be the centre of a DC cinematic universe, while Reeves could just want to just make a true sequel. That is a plausible scenario now.

ASM2 and BvS were very different situations.

First, neither were made in times of a global pandemic and a certain country in Eastern Europe trying to invade Ukraine which...kinda tends to gut profits like a fish.

Second, ASM2 was a sequel which made less than the first movie. Hence the disappointment. The Batman isn't ASM2 in this situation, it's ASM1. A good profit, with theoretical potential for much more. If Batman 2 doesn't do better, then we're in trouble. I'll admit that much.

Third, both movies had higher budgets. Both have their budget range top out at 100 million more than the highest of estimate of what The Batman was made for (keeping in mind the budget was almost certainly inflated by COVID-19). Therefore, 700ish million is obviously less of a profit than in the case of The Batman.

Fourth, both movies had far longer release windows. Both ASM2 and BvS were in theatres for three months. The Batman was in theatres for 45 days. And while just beating ASM2 and falling a hundred million short of BvS, it had a higher domestic gross than both of them.

Fifth, BvS was expected to break the bank because it was a milestone. It was the first live action movie with Batman and Superman in it, ever. And it came out 4 years after TDK trilogy ended, which did break the bank. The Batman was a near 3 hour long reboot and the first Batman solo movie in 10 years. It's a pretty big difference in context for both movies

 

[shauner111]

Zaslav is just cleaning the mess of the old regime. The DC universe needs to be rebooted anyway. The old heads should have never tried to make a film at that budget strictly for streaming in the first place. They should have killed the project as soon as the pandemic hit, but they're idiots and carried on. Now all their hard work was for nothing and here we are.

I'm not throwing my pitchforks at Zaslav yet.

 

[Gamma Goliath]

And again Zaszlav has already expressed his excitement over the Reeves franchise. Whatever Reeves was doing worked, so I don't think we can expect zaszlav to overhaul that. Could it happen sure, but do should we expect it? I'm not convinced we should.

 

[Blade Hoarder]

The reason WB is in the mess they are in is because they dumped their entire 2020 catalogue on streaming. Putting them in a massive debt. Now this new guy has to clean up Killah’s mess and make WB profitable again somehow.

Remember when people thought you could dump Hollywood movies with massive budgets on streaming and still make money? WB did that. And now they’re suffering for it.

 

[GothamCity]

The reason WB is in the mess they are in is because they dumped their entire 2020 catalogue on streaming. Putting them in a massive debt. Now this new guy has to clean up Killah’s mess and make WB profitable again somehow.

Remember when people thought you could dump Hollywood movies with massive budgets on streaming and still make money? WB did that. And now they’re suffering for it.

True, thats for sure.

 

[GothamCity]

I guess if The Batman 2 doesnt make at least 600million, part 3 will get canceled or gets a lesser budget. So if reeves is smart he creates a big cliffhanger in Batman 2.

 

[spideyfan77]

Honestly, yeah I am worried because I never thought a studio would outright cancel a finished movie.

It is pretty simple….if Reeves is no longer director moving forward (some done producer or whatever) then they are starting to interfere with him and I am done with DC. Reeves wont let them push him around. He is very vocal that he has a specific vision and he is okay with not telling it.

 

[Iceman]

And again Zaszlav has already expressed his excitement over the Reeves franchise. Whatever Reeves was doing worked, so I don't think we can expect zaszlav to overhaul that. Could it happen sure, but do should we expect it? I'm not convinced we should.

Hopefully that’s correct and what happens. I think there is nervousness that he will interfere to try and bring in a larger audience while otherwise giving Reeves what he sees as freedom, rather than cancel the first sequel.