According to director Angel Manuel Soto, the upcoming Blue Beetle live-action movie has Warner Bros. Discovery's full support. 2022 became a shaky year for the DCEU due to the many changes happening at Warner Bros. Discovery after the big merger was completed a couple of months ago. Not only has the studio shuffled around the DCEU schedule numerous times this year, but the Batgirl movie got canceled despite having wrapped principal photography in late March.
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While Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav has stressed that DC is a major component in the studio's future strategy, Batgirl's cancellation has cast doubt on other DC projects that are in various stages of work. One of the DCEU films that are coming in 2023 is Blue Beetle, starring Cobra Kai's Xolo Maridueña.as Jaime Reyes. Originally, Blue Beetle was slated to premiere on HBO Max, but Warner Bros. retooled it for theatrical and will come out a month after The Flash movie. Blue Beetle is making history for the comic book genre as it will be the first major superhero movie to feature a canonical Latino character who will be important for the DCEU's future.
Despite what happened to Batgirl, Blue Beetle is seemingly safe and still on track to hit theaters next year. In a new interview with NPR, the film's director opened up about his initial concerns about Blue Beetle after seeing how Batgirl was axed by the studio. However, according to Soto, Blue Beetle has Warner Bros. Discovery's "full support," sharing the following:
"I'm not going to lie. There was concern, anger, fear at first. They told me not to worry, the film has their full support."
Concern For Blue Beetle Is Valid After Batgirl
The Batgirl cancellation shocked the entertainment industry as it's highly unusual for a film that has already been greenlit and filmed to get shelved abruptly. That is why it's valid to be concerned about Blue Beetle and other DC projects that are allegedly still going forward, according to Warner Bros. Discovery. The Flash movie was even partially setting up the Batgirl film as the latter was set to feature Michael Keaton's Batman after his adventures with Barry Allen.
While Batgirl was canceled partially in favor of a tax write-down, Blue Beetle seems to be further along in its post-production stage. At this point, it would be extremely odd if Warner Bros. Discovery suddenly also pulled Blue Beetle, especially as it's less than a year till it opens in theaters. It would also not look good for the studio to scrap another DCEU product that features a diverse cast, especially after the DC TV shows, Legends of Tomorrow, Batwoman, and Naomi were canceled earlier in 2022 before Batgirl got the ax in August. Since Soto has previously confirmed he has ideas for Blue Beetle 2, that may be another reason why Warner Bros. Discovery has already assured him Blue Beetle will get released, which could be seen as a possible sign that they have faith in this new franchise.