One of the most distressing new trends in the movie industry is taking a movie that is finished/nearly finished and, instead of just shelving it indefinitely like they used to do in the old days, wiping out the movie altogether.
That means, the studio or streamer which financed the film in the first place will just eliminate the movie altogether (reportedly wiping out every digital copy that exists in their film vaults) in order to get a tax write-off.
The trend started with WB's decision to permanently eliminate their new Batgirl movie.
And, for a while, that seemed like it would be a one-off kind of thing.
But more recently, Netflix announced it would do the same thing with the nearly-completed Halle Berry movie, The Mothership.
And WB is reportedly giving their new live-action/animation film Coyote vs. Acme movie the same treatment. This movie even reportedly tested extremely well with preview audiences - and industry trades have reported WB-D CEO David Zaslav didn't even bother watching it at all.
The studio pretended it would shop the film around, but the latest news reports seem to indicate it was never really very serious about letting a competitor buy the movie and release it to the public.
If this trend continues, perhaps it won't be long before dozens of movies get "Batgirled" out of existence.
And, oddly enough, there hasn't been the uproar from Hollywood giants that you might expect. Nobody like Martin Scorsese or Steven Spielberg is coming out and saying, "wait a minute, is there some other alternative to destroying movies that are almost finished?"
There are a few less-prominent directors speaking out, but they aren't famous enough to really make headlines.
Some pundits have even suggested that some kind of law ought to be passed to stop entertainment conglomerates from doing this kind of thing.
Do you think this is the kind of thing that will eventually lead to new movie protection laws being passed, or will people simply shrug and forget about it in a few months?
That means, the studio or streamer which financed the film in the first place will just eliminate the movie altogether (reportedly wiping out every digital copy that exists in their film vaults) in order to get a tax write-off.
The trend started with WB's decision to permanently eliminate their new Batgirl movie.
And, for a while, that seemed like it would be a one-off kind of thing.
But more recently, Netflix announced it would do the same thing with the nearly-completed Halle Berry movie, The Mothership.
And WB is reportedly giving their new live-action/animation film Coyote vs. Acme movie the same treatment. This movie even reportedly tested extremely well with preview audiences - and industry trades have reported WB-D CEO David Zaslav didn't even bother watching it at all.
The studio pretended it would shop the film around, but the latest news reports seem to indicate it was never really very serious about letting a competitor buy the movie and release it to the public.
If this trend continues, perhaps it won't be long before dozens of movies get "Batgirled" out of existence.
And, oddly enough, there hasn't been the uproar from Hollywood giants that you might expect. Nobody like Martin Scorsese or Steven Spielberg is coming out and saying, "wait a minute, is there some other alternative to destroying movies that are almost finished?"
There are a few less-prominent directors speaking out, but they aren't famous enough to really make headlines.
Some pundits have even suggested that some kind of law ought to be passed to stop entertainment conglomerates from doing this kind of thing.
Do you think this is the kind of thing that will eventually lead to new movie protection laws being passed, or will people simply shrug and forget about it in a few months?