A new animated Batman movie is headed to Amazon Prime after being abandoned by HBO Max.
Since David Zaslav took over Warner Bros. Discovery in 2022, there have been plenty of shakeups over what does and does not stream on WB’s streaming service HBO Max.
A number of these streaming shake-ups have come from the super-powered world of DC, with some projects being outright canceled, with others being shopped around to competing streamers.
One of the most prominent of these titles has been Batman: Caped Crusader, a Batman: The Animated Series spiritual sequel. After being abandoned as an HBO Max project, it was ultimately picked up by Warner competitor Amazon.
And with this new openness to explore having content on other platforms, it seems a whole pandora’s box has opened for WB.
A New Batman Movie on Amazon
After being abandoned by HBO Max, the animated Batman movie, Merry Little Batman, is now headed to Amazon Prime Video.
According to new info from The Hollywood Reporter, Merry Little Batman and its spin-off TV show will stream on the HBO Max competitor in a similar fashion to J.J. Abrams, Matt Reeves, and Bruce Timm’s Batman: Caped Crusader.
In a statement from Warner Bros. Animation chief Sam Register, the WB executive noted that they “are excited to partner with Amazon to begin an all-new animated chapter of Batman:”
“We are excited to partner with Amazon to begin an all-new animated chapter of Batman. From the cinematic noir storytelling of ‘Batman: Caped Crusader’ to the comedic adventures of ‘Merry Little Batman’ and ‘Bat-Family,’ these new projects ensure that there will be an animated Batman story ready to excite fans of all ages.”
While also serving as the first official confirmation of Caped Crusader heading to Prime Video, the retail and streaming giant offered up details on this new animated Batman action-comedy coming as well.
Merry Little Batman follows the adventures of young Damian Wayne, as he transforms into a hero known as “Little Batman” to defend Gotham City from villains aiming to destroy the holidays.
The animated film will see Regular Show‘s Mike Roth take the directing seat, with a script written by Morgan Evans of Teen Titans Go! fame.
The Merry Little Batman spin-off series is titled Bat-Family, focusing on the greater Bat-Fam of Batman, Alfred, and Damian Wayne, as they “navigate the fun and frustrations of life as a super family.”
The Warner-Amazon Animation Alliance
As Warner Bros. refocuses its super-powered ventures under the watchful eye of James Gunn, it is also retooling its overall streaming strategy a tad, resulting in deals such as this.
As Gunn and co. look to reinvent the studio’s DC efforts within an interconnected story across both movie and TV, WB is moving away from anything that does not play into the great DCU vision.
And that is where deals such as the one described above come into play. Gunn himself seems open to having his own DC titles move over to other streamers, but for right now Warner looks to be making these deals with competitors to get anything not connected to the DCU off the service.
This includes the above trio of titles at Prime Video and Dead Boy Detectives heading to Netflix.
It is unknown if this is a widespread streaming strategy for WB, but it sure seems like a pattern is starting to emerge.
No release timing for Merry Little Batman, Bat-Family, or Batman: Caped Crusader has been made public as of yet.
