Over the summer, Warner Brothers made the controversial move to scrap the half-filmed Batgirl movie, which did not land well with many fans, particularly those who are leading the forefront of the Brendan Fraiser Renassaince movement. This also inspired a larger, more complex conversation revolving around this question: Are all movies …bad now?
Probably not, but the “restructuring” of various movie studios seems to have a lot of directors scrambling at the idea that their movie could be next. The Russo Brothers, known for their longstanding relationship with Marvel, told Variety that the move was unprecedented. “It’s rare that I can think of something that high profile, that expensive, that was murdered in such a way,” Joe Russo said of the Batgirl debacle. “It’s sad, but we’re at a time in the business where corporate sociopathy is going to rear its head because people are scared.”
Even though some people are scared, the brothers don’t feel bothered by the changing tides in the movie industry. When they were told that their Netflix blockbuster The Gray Man, would only play in theaters for a week, Joe says that he wasn’t surprised. “I’ve got four kids, so I can identify Gen Z’s habits pretty accurately,” Joe Russo said. “They don’t have the same emotional connection to watching things in a theater.” Okay but some of them still do!
Russo also thinks that the golden age of films shattering records might be over as simultaneous theatrical/streaming releases become popular. The brother’s insanely successful Marvel movie Avengers: Endgame made over $1 billion in its first weekend in theaters. “It will never happen again,” Russo added. “That was an apex of that era of theatrical filmmaking.” James Cameron will probably have something to say about this in the coming weeks.