Batman: Caped Crusader and six other animated projects have been scrapped at HBO Max.
As reported by TVLine, the animated Batman series from Batman: The Animated Series co-creator Bruce Timm will no longer appear on HBO Max. Batman: Caped Crusader is among six other titles, most of them projects from Warner Bros. Animation, that will no longer be released on the streaming platform. However, all of them will be shopped to other outlets, meaning Caped Crusader will likely still be released.
The other projects dropped by HBO Max include Merry Little Batman, an animated action comedy starring Damian Wayne directed by Mike Roth and written by Morgan Evans; The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie written by Kevin Costello; Bye Bye Bunny: A Looney Tunes Musical, with screenplay and lyrics from Ariel Dumas; Did I Do That to the Holidays: A Steve Urkel Story, an animated musical holiday special from Wyatt Cenec with Jaleel White reprising his Family Matters role; and The Amazing World of Gumball: The Movie from series creator Ben Bocquelet and Shane Mack.
Batman: Caped Crusader received a series order from HBO Max and Cartoon Network in May 2021 with J.J. Abrams, The Batman director Matt Reeves, Timm and Ed Brubaker executive producing. "We are beyond excited to be working together to bring this character back, to tell engrossing new stories in Gotham City," Reeves, Timm and Abrams said in a joint statement at the time. "The series will be thrilling, cinematic and evocative of Batman’s noir roots, while diving deeper into the psychology of these iconic characters. We cannot wait to share this new world."
This is another development in a long line of cuts on HBO Max, which recently removed 36 titles from its streaming catalog. According to a spokesperson for Warner Bros. Discovery, this decision was a result of the plans to merge HBO Max and Discovery+. "As we work toward bringing our content catalogs together under one platform, we will be making changes to the content offering available on both HBO Max and discovery+... That will include the removal of some content from both platforms," HBO Max wrote in a statement.
The merger between Warner Bros. and Discovery in April has resulted in several changes to the company, including layoffs, the removal of Warner Bros. titles from the streaming service and the cancelation of upcoming HBO Max exclusives like Batgirl. However, Warner Bros. Discovery president and CEO David Zaslav has revealed plans to expand HBO Max's content library overall, with a focus on increased "content" and overall "quality."
Batman: Caped Crusader had not yet received a release date.
Source: TVLine