Canceled ‘Batman: Caped Crusader’ Animated Series Gets Rescued by Amazon
Another DC Animation project has been saved – Batman: Caped Crusader is coming to Amazon.
Along with cost-cutting via cancellations during last year’s merger, Warner Bros. Discovery aimed to monetize more of its IP by selling projects to other studios. The execs met with Amazon last year to hash out a deal for DC-branded animation content, with HBOMax getting first dibs. But, instead of cancellation, a chance would be given to other studios. According to Warner Bros. Television’s Channing Dungey…
“With animation, we used to be about staying in-house, but now we are doing it on different platforms. HBO Max is the first stop, but we are in the process of closing a big deal with Amazon featuring DC branded content in animation.”
That plan has proved to be a good thing for fans already. Netflix has picked up Dead Boy Detectives – another canceled HBOMax original that’s based on Neil Gaiman and Matt Wagner’s Sandman spin-off comic.
via DC
Batman: Caped Crusader was first announced in May 2021. It’s connected to Bruce Timm’s classic Batman: The Animated Series – bringing back its award-winning storytelling and possibly its animation style. Timm, J.J. Abrams, Matt Reeves, and Ed Brubaker were all signed on at that point. The ten-episode first season was originally set for HBOMax, but it got swept up with the mass cancellations that happened last year.
It seems a reported deal with Amazon has saved the project. I’ve been excited to watch this continuation; it doesn’t matter to me where it’s streaming. I hope that Bruce Timm is still on board. Producers J.J. Abrams and Matt Reeves released a statement.
“We are beyond excited to be working together to bring this character back, to tell engrossing new stories in Gotham City. 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.”
We’ll see if this way of raising money (they’re in over $1B of debt right now) pulls the rumored Batman Beyond movie out of the depths and puts it on a screen of some sort. I’m all for that.
via Warner Bros.
