Warner Bros. Axes ‘Batman: Caped Crusader’ and Other Animated Titles From HBO Max
Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. said it would shop the projects elsewhere amid the company’s streaming overhaul
Warner Bros. Discovery Inc. WBD +0.67% scrapped six animated projects, including the series “Batman: Caped Crusader,” from its coming lineup on HBO Max, a spokesman for the company’s animation studio said Tuesday, continuing the company’s streaming overhaul.
The move was the latest in a series of cost-cutting moves following Discovery’s merger with WarnerMedia, AT&T Inc.’s media business, earlier this year. The company also purged “Batgirl,” a superhero movie with a star-studded cast, from its HBO Max lineup in August.
The spokesman at Warner Bros. Animation Inc. said the projects won’t be available on HBO Max and would instead be shopped elsewhere. The spokesman didn’t say why Warner Bros. Discovery WBD 0.75% chose to axe those titles.
The projects include “The Amazing World of Gumball: The Movie,” produced by Hanna-Barbera Studios Europe, the spokesman said. Warner Bros. Animation is producing the other five titles, the spokesman said. Those projects are “Batman: Caped Crusader,” “Merry Little Batman,” “The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Toons Movie,” “Bye Bye Bunny: A Looney Toons Musical” and “Did I Do That to the Holidays: A Steve Urkel Story.”
“Batman: Caped Crusader,” the latest installment in the Batman universe, had sparked excitement among fans after HBO Max and Cartoon Network gave the show a straight-to-series order last year. WarnerMedia billed the show, which is being produced by J.J. Abrams and others, as a reimagining of the Batman mythology.
Representatives for the show’s producers didn’t immediately return requests for comment Tuesday.
The company’s earlier decision to scrap “Batgirl” came as executives concluded the film was unlikely to make back the money the studio had invested in it after a poor test screening, people familiar with details of the production said at the time.
Warner Bros. Discovery, which formed with about $55 billion in debt, has scrapped a number of titles from HBO Max as part of a strategy overhaul to win streaming market share without overspending.
The company pulled a number of titles in recent weeks from HBO Max, including almost 200 “Sesame Street” episodes and about a half-dozen movies. In May, Warner Bros. Discovery axed “The Wonder Twins,” another superhero movie that cost around $75 million to make. The company’s leadership decided that the movie’s budget was too high to net a return.
Other cost-cutting measures include job cuts. HBO laid off 70 employees this month, or about 14% of its workforce, with the bulk of the layoffs from HBO Max.
WarnerMedia launched HBO Max in 2020. The streaming service became part of Warner Bros. Discovery after the merger earlier this year.
A number of streaming platforms have launched in recent years as companies look to capitalize on the growing number of subscribers migrating from cable TV to streaming services. Platforms including Netflix Inc. , Hulu and HBO Max have struggled to grow their subscriber bases in what has become an increasingly saturated market.