The bizarre hits just keep on coming at Warner Bros. Discovery. The newly formed company canceled six animated projects which were originally being produced for HBO Max. Unlike Batgirl, which was completely shelved, the six projects will reportedly continue production as they are shopped to other outlets.
The projects include Merry Little Batman, The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie, Bye Bye Bunny: A Looney Tunes Musical, Did I Do That to The Holidays: A Steve Urkel Story, and The Amazing World of Gumball: The Movie and the much anticipated J.J. Abrams and Bruce Timm’s Batman: Caped Crusader.
Batman: Caped Crusader was given a series order from HBO Max and Cartoon Network 15 months ago with (DCAU creator) Timm, Abrams, Matt Reeves, and Ed Brubaker as executive producers. The project was previously described as “Utilizing state-of-the-art animation techniques and technologies available, Batman: Caped Crusader will once again reinvent Batman and his iconic rogue’s gallery with sophisticated storytelling, nuanced characters, and intense action sequences all set in a visually striking world.”
Many fans remember Emmy Award winner Timm from the Emmy Award-winning series Batman: The Animated Series, not to mention his work on Batman Beyond: The Movie, The New Batman Adventures, Batman Beyond, Superman: The Animated Series and Justice League (animated series). We have all been waiting for his return and reimagining of Batman along with heavy hitter and Emmy Award winner J.J. Abrams, who has produced projects such as Westworld, Lovecraft Country, Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker, Lost, and Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi.
REELated:
“We are beyond excited to be working together to bring this character back, to tell engrossing new stories in Gotham City,” Timm, Abrams, and Reeves said in a statement when the series was announced. “The series will be thrilling, cinematic, and evocative of Batman’s noir roots, while diving deeper into the psychology of these iconic characters. We cannot wait to share this new world.”
Since David Zaslav took over as the current President and CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery, he’s been shaking things up like shelving Batgirl and Scoob! Holiday Haunt, reportedly to reap some tax write-offs and canceled projects like the animated original, Driftwood, and removing shows like Close Enough, Aquaman: King of Atlantis, Infinity Train and numerous others.
“As we work toward bringing our content catalogs together under one platform, we will be making changes to the content offering available on both HBO Max and discovery+. That will include the removal of some content from both platforms,” the company said in a statement obtained by Deadline last week when 37 unscripted and animated titles were pulled off HBO Max.
Zaslov recently shared his 10 year plan for DC and unfortunately it seems those plans do not include any new animated Batman series, no matter how much fans were looking forward to it.
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