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A14 PEOPLE & ARTS
Thursday 4 augusT 2022
Warner Bros. axes ‘Batgirl,’ won’t release $90M HBO Max film

By JAKE COYLE kind of release would re-
NEW YORK (AP) — Warner quire tens of millions more.
Bros. has axed the $90 mil- Warner Bros. Discovery is
lion “Batgirl” film planned set to report second-quar-
for HBO Max, according to ter earnings Thursday.
a person connected with Representatives for Warner
the film who was not au- Bros. and Warner Bros. Dis-
thorized to speak publicly covery declined to com-
about it. ment. The “Batgirl” plans
The decision was highly un- were first reported by the
usual for such a high-priced New York Post.
and nearly finished movie. Warner Bros. also shelved
But the studio ultimately “Scoob!: Holiday Haunt,”
decided “Batgirl” didn’t an almost-completed se-
merit either a streaming de- quel to 2020’s “Scoob!”
but or a theatrical release, Producer and writer Tony
and has instead opted to Cervone confirmed in an
entirely write off the film Instagram post Tuesday
starring “In the Heights” star that the “Scoob!” film was
Leslie Grace as Batgirl and canned.
co-starring Michael Keaton “Yes I am afraid this is true,”
(returning as Batman), J.K. wrote Cervone.
Simmons and Brendan Fra- “The movie is practically fin-
ser. It was directed by Adil Leslie Grace arrives at a screening of “In the Heights” during the Los Angeles Latino International ished and turned out beau-
Film Festival on June 4, 2021.
El Arbi and Bilall Fallah. Pro- Associated Press tifully. I am beyond heart-
duction wrapped in April. broken.”
Warner Bros.’ decision, one shocked by the news. We gram, “Batgirl For Life.” HBO Max. The “Batgirl” cancellation
without any obvious paral- still can’t believe it,” El Arbi Under new Warner Bros. This year, Warner Bros. has comes as Warner Bros. is
lel in Hollywood history, sent and Fallah said in a state- Discovery chief execu- returned to exclusive theat- trying to revamp its DC
shockwaves through the in- ment Wednesday. “As di- tive David Zaslav, Warner rical windows for at least 45 Films operations. While “The
dustry. When a big-budget rectors, it is critical that our Bros. is shifting its strategy days before sending mov- Batman” earlier this year
movie doesn’t meet a stu- work be shown to audienc- on film releases and trim- ies to HBO Max. While “Bat- performed well with $770.8
dio’s expectations, it’s typi- es, and while the film was ming costs. Under previous girl” isn’t as pricey as many million in ticket sales, War-
cally sold off or dumped far from finished, we wish chief executive Jason Kilar superhero films, which typi- ners’ DC releases have
quietly with little fanfare. that fans all over the world and partly as a pandemic cally cost $150-200 million been erratic and plagued
“Batgirl,” greenlit before would have had the oppor- response, the studio imple- to make, it’s a bigger bud- by controversy. “The Flash,”
WarnerMedia’s merger tunity to see and embrace mented day-and-date get movie for an HBO Max scheduled for release next
with Discovery Inc., will in- the final film themselves. releases in 2021, opening title. Zaslav has maintained June, stars Ezra Miller who
stead simply not see the Maybe one day they will films simultaneously in the- larger budgeted movies has been arrested twice
light of day after reportedly insha’Allah (if God wills).” aters and on HBO Max. are best served by a theat- this year in Hawaii, in a dis-
poor test screenings. The directors signed their Other films, like “Batgirl,” rical rollout. But marketing a orderly conduct case and
“We are saddened and statement, posted on Insta- were produced solely for movie like “Batgirl” for that on suspicion of assault.q

Videos in English depict last 6 months of Anne Frank’s life

Anne, her parents, her sister ary ends, depicting what sion to look through Anne’s
and four other Jews who happened to Anne and eyes at the last months of
hid with them in a secret her family after their arrest. her life; the terrible time in
annex of an Amsterdam Eyewitness accounts pro- the camps,” the Amster-
house were arrested. Two vided some of the informa- dam museum’s execu-
non-Jewish helpers also tion. tive director, Ronald Leo-
were arrested. The actress playing Anne pold, said in a statement
The Frank family members speaks to the camera in Wednesday.
hid in the annex from July between harrowing scenes “With this sequel, we’ve
1942 until they were ar- of the arrest, transportation answered the questions of
rested in August 1944 and and the inhuman condi- many young people about
deported to concentration tions and treatment of Jews what happened to Anne
camps. Only Anne’s father, in the camps first Camp after her arrest, the period
Otto Frank, survived. Westerbork in the eastern she couldn’t describe in
After the war, Otto had his Netherlands and later Aus- her diary,” he added. “We
Journalists take images of the renovated Anne Frank House Mu- dead teenage daughter’s chwitz and Bergen-Belsen. hope to reach even more
seum in Amsterdam, Netherlands, Wednesday, Nov. 21, 2018. diary published, and it has Anne, 15, and her older sis- young people worldwide
Associated Press since been translated into ter, Margot, both died of ty- with the English-language
more than 70 languages. phus shortly before Bergen- version of ‘Anne Frank – Af-
AMSTERDAM (AP) — The months of her life, from her The building housing the se- Belsen was liberated. ter the Arrest.’”
Anne Frank House muse- arrest to her death in a Nazi cret annex was turned into The video’s creators The three episodes, each
um is releasing an English- concentration camp. a museum in 1960. worked with the museum about 15 minutes long, will
language version of three The English version of “Anne The videos being released and Dutch public broad- be available to view on the
videos in which an actress Frank - After the Arrest” is Thursday were previously caster NTR to develop the museum’s YouTube chan-
playing the young Jewish set for release on Thursday, available in Dutch. series. nel from 9 p.m. (1900 GMT)
diarist describes the last six 78 years to the day since They pick up where the di- “It makes a deep impres- on Thursday.q