The Simpsons did it again! It turns out that the show’s writer predicted something like Warner Bros. Pictures cancelling the DC Comics Batgirl movie would happen years ago. Honestly, I am now convinced that Matt Groening has a time machine – or, if not him, then someone on The Simpsons’ writing staff because this is just getting seriously spooky! The fact that The Simpsons predicted something like that Batgirl movie being cancelled was brought up by Joe Russo on Twitter.
Oh my god. THE SIMPSONS did it again — they predicted studios dumping big-budget movies like BATGIRL for write-offs… in 2015. pic.twitter.com/8cwKXqWBOr
— Joe Russo (@joerussotweets) September 21, 2022
So, in the scene, the movie the studio executives are watching is actually some sort of Godzilla movie in which the monster has Homer Simpsons’ face. They then exclaim that the movie was a total bomb, and it’s no wonder they’ve only sold one ticket. The person who bought the ticket turns out to be the comic book guy who then says that he didn’t buy the ticket to watch the movie that was on. He just wanted to get his set for the next Star Wars film that he was sure would “stink to high heaven”. (Did they also predict that The Rise Of Skywalker was going to be terrible? Seems like it.)
The Simpsons predicted Batgirl being cancelled years ago
Credit: Disney Plus
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The head executive then says that there’s only one thing they can do. “Dump everything you see and say we lost it for insurance purposes,” says the exec. That’s almost exactly what Warner Bros Discovery did with the Batgirl movie. They claimed the movie was a tax write-off so that they could recuperate some of the $90 million they spent making the film in the first place. This is so bloody spooky that Groening and his team of writers predicted that a movie studio would do such a thing.
The scene finishes with another one of the studio executives saying: “Oh yeah, that’s movie-making, Steve. That’s why we all report to you.” What would have been brilliant in this scene is if the character had called the other guy David – just like David Zaslav. However, that maybe would have made it a bit too obvious that Matt and co do actually have a time machine. This scene was in an episode of the show that aired back in 2015. Now, in 2022, we’re seeing studios do exactly what they said they would do in the clip.
Was Warner Bros Discovery right to cancel Batgirl?
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I’ve made my thoughts on what Warner Bros did to the Batgirl movie very public. But, I’ll say it again just in case you missed us talking about it in the recent episode of our podcast, The Small Screen Podcast, I think it was a terrible decision on the studio’s behalf. They didn’t stop to think for one second about all the people involved in making the film. The studio executives did not think for one second that the movie could end up being hugely popular.
Yes, we’ve all heard that the film’s first screenings didn’t go down too well, but films that have gone on to be incredible well-received all started off with pretty poor first screenings. It’s all a part of the movie-making process these days. It also sets an incredibly bad precedent for the future of Hollywood. Studios can now make films and just cancel them and claim them as tax write-offs if the executives aren’t happy with how they turned out. Filmmakers and people involved in the actual making of these movies are no longer part of the equation. It’s a dangerous road for movie studios to go down.
What do you make of this news? Are you as shocked as we were to find out that The Simpsons predicted Warner Bros. Pictures cancelling movies such as Batgirl years ago? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.
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