Batman: Caped Crusaderis no longer coming to HBO Max, according to Variety. The announcement also clarifies that HBO Max will not be moving forward with five other animated projects. The move comes on the heels of the Warner Bros. and Discovery merger. New CEO David Zaslav has made several controversial moves concerning HBO Max, which includes therecent cancellation ofBatgirl. The streaming service giant has also been trending towards the removal of much of its animated content in the past week, with more than 60 animated shows, intended for both adult and family-friendly consumption, being removed from the service entirely.
Batman: Caped Crusaderwas meant to build from the hugely acclaimed animated showBatman: The Animated Series,which ran for 85 episodes on Fox Kids between 1992 and 1995. Working on the project were executive producers Bruce Timm, J.J. Abrams, andThe Batmandirector Matt Reeves. The three of them reportedly hope to shop the series to other streaming platforms, but as of right now, the project appears to be on hold.
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Other projects on the chopping block includeMerry 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 StoryandThe Amazing World of Gumball: The Movie. Most of these projects were meant to be produced with the in-house Warner Brothers Animation studio. Reportedly, when asked about the move away from kids and family content, a spokesperson remarked, “Live-action kids and family programming will not be part of our programming focus in the immediate future.”
This is merely the latest move from the new administration at Warner Brothers Discovery. Its previous decisions regarding content have been highly controversial, with an anonymousBatgirlactorreportedly calling Zaslav an ‘imbecile’. Some of these moves have definitely been unprecedented, such as the aforementionedBatgirlcancellation - a film that reportedly cost the studio $90 million to produce.
Zaslav also reportedly intends to ax HBO Max entirely for a Discovery+ hybrid platform, but the loss of so many projects casts a certain amount of doubt on the success of this move. HBO Max has built a reputation being known for its quality content and its creative-friendly approach to their intellectual properties. Now, however, creatives have beenpublicly speaking out and expressing frustrationagainst the moves Zaslav is making. It remains to be seen if creatives will want to work with the service or its new incarnation in the future.
