Part of the fall out of the Harvey Weinstein sexual assault scandal, is that several accusations towards male actors who knew about the behavior, defened/condoned/covered for the man. One such actor, according to Charmed star Rose McGowan, is BatMan himself Ben Affleck who has issued an apology to Hilarie Burton, a young women he groped on an episode of TRL. This in addition to other misbehavior targeting impressionable young women whom he encountered in his career. It appears we’re just seeing the beginning of Batflecks problems.
Unfortunately, his misconduct may pose a billion dollar problem for Warner Brothers pictures, just one week after releasing the final trailer for the up coming comic book film: Justice League.
After reportedly spending $220 million on the film, which is the production budget, and doesn’t include the almost double that marketing campaign. In addition to money’s alocated to spin off films, some of which may already be in production: Aquaman (estimated $160 million budget) and Shazam ($150 million), not to mention films that are already in development : Wonder Woman 2, Cyborg, Green Lantern Corp, and Lobo. Some of those films may avoid a potential Ben Affleck boycott, but films that cannot would be Batgirl, Nightwing, and of course the stand alone Batman film, which are all in development. Even if the plug is pulled on these projects to avoid consumer backlash, contracts will still have to be paid out.
This Problem leaves Warner Brothers with two choices to avoid potential bankruptcy. Either replace Batman with some one else, and try to salvage something out of this mess. Or, reboot the DC Cinimatic Universe and wash their hands of the entire thing. I would prefer a reboot at this point, as these DC movies are not as good as they could be in my opinion. But, what do you think?
