[Leo656]

I Edited my previous post to include a direct reply to your other post. In case you missed it. My post was originally in reply to Zarius, and I hadn't seen yours until after, thus the Edit.
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WB doesn't always make decisions based on finance, so much as out of spite.

To wit: They refuse to even publish what would have been Snyder's JLII and III as a COMIC BOOK... which would have cost them, like, five dollars to produce.

Fans said, "We just want the story! Even if it's not a movie! Just give us SOMETHING!"

And in turn, WB said, "No. You said you hated this Snyder stuff, so we're burying it. You LIKE it now? Where were you five years ago? Nah, get f*cked, it's over. We're moving on, so should you. Stop asking."

Affleck is a relic of Snyder's vision. WB does not want him there. Period. He represents something they want to bury and move on from. This Flash movie just gives both sides a way to end their "relationship" gracefully, and not on mutual bad terms as it would have been if it had ended with JL in 2017. Both sides get to walk away smiling, this time. It's good PR for WB, pretending to make nice. Otherwise, they never would have called him. His phone sure wasn't ringing from them a year ago, was it? Or when they "stole" his Batman movie and gave it to Pattinson?

Every decision - EVERY SINGLE THING - that WB did regarding Justice League, and everyone connected to it, from 2017 up through this past Spring, was motivated out of nothing but pure spite. Not money - although I'm sure they THOUGHT getting "The Avengers Guy" on the case would crack the billion-dollar code, but we saw how that turned out. No, I mean about how they "backdoored" Whedon into directing in the first place, by hiring him to "just" do some "minor rewrites" and then immediately having him "babysit" everyone on set, acting as a director while Snyder was still physically present in that role. How when Snyder left the project to deal with his daughter's suicide, WB did nothing to step in and clear up any of the "He got fired for sucking LOL" rumors that were in every headline for years, when they easily could have done so at any moment just by telling the truth and saying, "Well, we were already sort of shifting plans, but no, he asked to leave and we let him go." How after Whedon's Justice League bombed, they not only refused to entertain any notion of Snyder's version existing, despite even the entire cast saying "Yeah, Snyder's was way better, hope it comes out one day!", but they openly told people to "Stop asking, it's not happening."

Lest we forget, it wasn't WB that approved that Snyder's cut be finished and released. That was an HBO Max decision, made way above WB/DC's pay grade. WB were furious about it... even though it did well and made money. It got good reviews, it was the highest-selling Blu-Ray and DVD by a HUGE margin upon its disc release... and you can't actually get anyone from WB, to this day, to acknowledge out loud that the damn movie even EXISTS.

And when fans say "We want more, SOME how, even if it's not a movie," WB just keeps saying, "No. No movie, no comic, no HBO Max series... NOTHING. Now stop asking and GO AWAY."

These aren't decisions that have anything whatsoever to do with money.

It's about how WB, ultimately, had egg on their face after the Whedon fiasco, they're ashamed of it, can't admit it, won't walk it back, and would rather leave money on the table than say, "Y'know... maybe we can make some of that Snyder stuff work, IF you guys say you want it so bad."

But they don't want to make some of it work. They just don't want it, period. Even if people beg, they don't care. Even if those people wave money at them, they don't care.

They will never - N-E-V-E-R - admit that the Whedon cut of JL was a mistake. That's the crux of it. To the point where they'd rather just bury everything and start over, if need be. 'But there's money to be made!" They don't CARE.

I've noticed that you tend to have this, "If there's money along a path, that's the path Companies will inevitably follow" sort of philosophy. But you're ignoring two very important things: Pride and Spite. The only two things on Earth more powerful than money.

That's what WB makes a lot of their decisions on. Money is PART of it, sure, but they've shown countless times, they're really bad at consistently making money but really good at pissing off their fans and employees in large numbers all at once through their bonehead moves, be they creative or business-related.

To keep Affleck around, or to resurrect ANY bit of Snyder's DCEU, WB would have to implicitly admit that they f*cked up in 2017 and hit the "REBOOT EVERYTHING!" panic button too early. They'd have to acknowledge that people hated their Whedonized version of JL, and liked Snyder's version better. They'd have to acknowledge that some people very much want those stories finished, even if it's a comic book or some other way.

Simply Put, to keep Affleck on, WB would have to on some level admit that they made a mistake taking Batman away from him, and the DCEU away from Snyder, in the first place.

They don't have that in them. They don't.

It's not about the money.

It's about "We CAN'T be wrong. We CAN'T."

Pride. And Spite. And that's all.