We finally have some more news on the Static Shock and Batgirl films at Warner Brothers! In an interview with the New York Times Warner Brothers president Walter Hamada said that a Static Shock film with producer Michael B. Jordan, and a Batgirl film previously being worked on by Joss Whedon but now being written by Bumblebee and Birds of Prey writer Christina Hodson would both be coming to HBO Max.
If you’re like me you grew up watching the Saturday morning cartoon version of Static Shock voiced by Phil LaMarr which ran from 2000-2004. But Static has been around since 1993 first appearing in Static issue #1. Virgil Ovid Hawkins was exposed to radioactive chemicals giving him his electricity based powers. During his time in DC comics Static has fought alongside the Teen Titans, Young Justice, and the Justice League.
Batgirl who is mostly commonly associated with Barbara Gordon daughter of Commissioner James Gordon. Debuting all the way back in 1967 in Detective Comics #359. While she doesn’t have powers much like her long time ally Batman she makes up for that with gadgets and fighting skills.
The decision to bring Static and Batgirl to the streaming service might seem like a bit of a downgrade on the surface but it fits in with Warner Brothers’ new found super hero strategy. They seemingly have accepted that the DCEU can’t go toe to toe with Marvel’s Cinematic Universe. The MCU owns the box office and after failures like Batman vs Superman and The Justice League it seems the company is turning to their app and subscriptions generated through that rather than relying on giant tentpole films which come with the risk of losing a lot of money.
As someone who loves going to the movies this is a bit disappointing but with the uncertainty surrounding the future of theaters due to the Covid-19 pandemic I understand why Warner Brothers is making this call. They already announced many of their 2021 and late 2020 movies would be premiering on HBO max, and there was something really nice about turning on my Xbox, signing into HBO max and being able to immediately watch Wonder Woman 1984 without paying any extra fee.
I’m not the only subscriber who thought so, according to Warner Brothers more than 6 million people watched the Patty Jenkins helmed film on Christmas day. Which makes sense, it has been almost a year since I’ve seen a new movie in theaters and that isn't uncommon among movie fans. Tenet attempted to make a box office run, but that failed and with cases surging and distribution of the vaccine being slow this strategy may be the future of films for better or worse.
So what do you think? Are you excited for the Static Shock movie? How about Batgirl? Do you like Warner Brothers putting their films on HBO Max? Or do you think it will lead to theaters being killed?
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