Warner Brothers Decides Batgirl Won’t Fly

Actors, directors, and production crew were shocked this week when Warner Brothers announced they were halting production on the new Batgirl movie and it would not be released to the public. This came as a big surprise given the production had finished shooting and the film was in post-production. The film was initially planned to be released on the HBO Max streaming service. However, this announcement ensures that it will now not be released on any platform or in theaters.

Despite having reportedly spent $90-100 million on the film so far, executives claim that the film did so poorly in screening tests that the film would never be able to recoup its losses. Instead, the studio has decided to just write off the investment as a total loss. Although this film’s budget is low compared to other DC superhero movies, ending production now places the film among some of the largest movie losses of all-time.

Discussion Questions:

1. What are sunk costs, and what role should they play in making decisions for the future.
2. Given that the film was near completion, what would be some of the marginal costs of completing the movie?
3. How would marginal costs and marginal benefits of completing the movie differ between releasing the movie on HBO Max (or another streaming service) compared to releasing the movie in theaters?

Sources| The Guardian: ‘Irredeemable’ Batgirl movie unexpectedly cancelled despite being in final stages; Wikipedia: DC Extended Universe, List of biggest box-office bombs; Unsplash: Paramount Studios photo