Warner Bros. Is Deleting Movies From Existence, And That Should Make Them Criminals
The last few years have been tough on every studio out there, between the financial setback caused by the COVID-19 pandemic followed by the historic writers’ and actors’ strike. While most companies have found ways to adjust to the changes, shuffling their release schedules around and making other moves, Warner Bros. has taken a more drastic approach and it’s beginning to leave audiences angry. Instead of finding ways to handle box office bombs in the most appropriate way possible, the studio has instead been deleting movies left and right–most recently Coyote vs. Acme.
Batgirl
While Coyote vs. Acme is the current title on everyone’s mind when it comes to Warner Bros. deleting movies (and we will absolutely come back to it), this whole mess really started back in August 2022 when it was announced that the already-finished Batgirl wouldn’t be taking flight after all. This was a huge blow to fans who had been long awaiting a movie centered around the fierce female lead, and with stars including Leslie Grace, Brendan Fraser, and Michael Keaton attached (in a role that would’ve returned Keaton to Batman before The Flash), this one made major waves across the industry and devastated the following.
The Merge
Batgirl’s axing came around the time that Warner Bros. merged with Discovery, with the former’s CEO claiming that deleting movies like this one was a necessary evil and would award them tax breaks to help stay afloat. When the companies fully meshed into one, both faced hard decisions of what to cut from their streaming services, with many titles disappearing into the ether.
The Purge
Just a few examples of content completely eliminated from the streaming platform include the Seth Rogen starring An American Pickle, the game show About Last Night, and the hit sci-fi TV series Westworld. A long list of animated and/or kids’ programming was likewise purged.
Those choices were just another hard pill to swallow for Max (then HBO Max) subscribers as they were forced to bid adieu to not just movies but also a slew of TV shows. Dropping like flies left and right, Warner Bros. was deleting movies and finding themselves more and more in the headlines for all the wrong reasons. With the saying “there’s no such thing as bad publicity,” maybe the studio was hoping this would be the case but as time marched on, the hole they dug just kept getting bigger and bigger.
Coyote Vs. Acme
This brings us to the most recently deleted movie from their catalog, Coyote vs. Acme. Featuring huge names like John Cena (Peacemaker) and Will Forte (The Last Man on Earth), the live-action/animation hybrid flick would have told the story of a lawsuit between Wile E. Coyote and the Acme corporation for all of the failed products that didn’t destroy his nemesis: the Road Runner. Casting even more of a dark shadow over Warner Bros., it came to light that not only was the production completely finished but that it was a test performance hit with audiences.
Wasting A Potential Hit
Again, for tax purposes, Warner Bros. deleted the $70 million movie hoping for another write-off at the tail end of their 2023 earnings year. The studio’s decision to continuously delete movies has brought a heftier discussion into play surrounding the legality of making such decisions. Not only do these choices negatively affect consumers but it’s also a slap in the face to the cast and production team who have worked tirelessly just to watch their hard work vanish into thin air.
