The Batgirl film set to star Leslie Grace, Michael Keaton, and Brendan Fraser has been scrapped by Warner Bros. Discovery, The Wrap reports. The DC Extended Universe movie was slated to stream on HBO Max, but it will no longer be released.
Directed by Bad Boys for Life filmmakers Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah from a script by Christina Hodson (Birds of Prey, The Flash), Batgirl was filmed from November 2021 to March 2022 with a $90 million budget. Yet, despite COVID delays, reshoots, and all that money spent, Warner Bros. Discovery recently changed management, and the new studio heads decided the film simply didn’t work. Warner Bros. Discovery hopes to produce DC Extended Universe films fit for theatrical releases, and Batgirl — which would have been the first streaming-exclusive movie entry in the canon — apparently wasn’t fit for the big screen.
Update: According to a report from Variety, Warner Discovery executives believe that taking a tax write-down on Batgirl is a more lucrative option than releasing the film on HBO Max or selling it to another studio.
In a statement, Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah said that are “saddened and shocked by the news. We still can’t believe it. As directors, it is critical that our work be shown to audiences, and while the film was far from finished, we wish that fans all over the world would have had the opportunity to see and embrace the final film themselves. Maybe one day they will insha’Allah.”
The scrapped Batgirl was supposed to star In the Heights breakout Grace as the titular superhero, also known as Barbara Gordon, the daughter of Gotham Police Commissioner Jim Gordon (J.K. Simmons). Fraser was set to play the film’s villain, Firefly, while Keaton agreed to bring back his Batman for the movie. Though the film has been scrapped, insiders told The Wrap that the studio loves its directors and star and plans to work with them on a different project.
Fortunately for Keaton fans, the actor’s Bruce Wayne will still make a comeback in the upcoming Flash film. As for Fraser, the actor’s recent comeback also includes the upcoming film The Whale and Martin Scorsese’s Killers of the Flower Moon.
Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah have released a statement about ‘BATGIRL’ being cancelled.
“As directors, it is critical that our work be shown to audiences… we wish that fans all over the world would have had the opportunity to see and embrace the final film themselves.” pic.twitter.com/ZDKeu1xtNl
— DiscussingFilm (@DiscussingFilm) August 3, 2022
