‘Batman: Caped Crusader’ Animated Series Not Moving Forward At HBO Max
The changes at HBO Max keep on coming as the streamer has now shelved six animated projects, including the Batman: Caped Crusader series from J.J. Abrams, Bruce Timm, and Matt Reeves.
As reported by TV Line, the six projects are no longer being produced for HBO Max, though they will continue production while they are shopped to other outlets. These projects include Merry Little Batman, The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Toons Movie, Bye Bye Bunny: A Looney Toons Musical, Did I Do That to the Holidays: A Steve Urkel Story, and The Amazing World of Gumball: The Movie.
Batman: Caped Crusader, which was ordered straight-to-series in May 2021, was set to be an animated reimagining of the Batman mythology. Warner Bros Animation, Bad Robot Productions, and 6th & Idaho were behind the project, which also marked Batman: The Animated Series producer Timm’s return to the Batman animated franchise.
The move to abandon these projects comes as Warner Bros. Discovery continues to cut costs ahead of the upcoming HBO Max and Discovery+ merger. In recent weeks, the streamer has removed over 36 shows and movies, including HBO originals such as Camping, Martin Scorsese‘sVinyl, and Mrs. Fletcher, Cartoon Network series such as Dodo and Elliott From Earth, and over 200 classic episodes of Sesame Street.
The most high-profile of these cuts was the cancelation of Batgirl, the DC Film project starring Leslie Grace as Batgirl, alongside J. K. Simmons, Jacob Scipio, Brendan Fraser, and Michael Keaton. The 90-million-dollar superhero movie had completed filming and was about to enter post-production when WBD decided to scrap the project.
