This comes six months after Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav pulled the plug on the project, despite it nearing completion. Batgirl was the first domino to fall under new management when the entire DC Universe was due for a shake-up with new DC Studios co-CEOs James Gun and Peter Safran coming in. Originally planned as an attempt to explore the DC Multiverse for the first time since Barbara Gordon’s Batgirl fought alongside Michael Keaton’s Batman in 1989, the project ended up enraging and disappointing fans.
— Batgirl Film News 🦇 (@BatgirlFilm) January 1, 2023 The fallout from the Batgirl cancellation didn’t sit well with many, so cast and crew members have continually teased fans with scenes and images from the unreleased project. Co-directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah clarified that the movie was not completed, with additional visual effects needed and new footage being recorded. But what hurts fans the most, is the fact that the cancellation came in as a tax write-off. With a $90 million price tag for production, the project was deemed ”not strong enough” for a theatrical release, and too expensive for a streaming release. Instead of paying taxes on this amount and hoping for a miracle on HBO Max, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav decided to scrap the project entirely.
What could have been 💔 pic.twitter.com/MC259Ckpbx — Batgirl Film News 🦇 (@BatgirlFilm) January 1, 2023 Due to the status of the footage as a tax write-off, it could never be officially released, with ”funeral screenings” being the last chance someone got to lay their eyes on the Batgirl film before it was locked away in the studio’s vault. Fans aren’t the only ones who were outraged at the cancellation, with DC Films President Walter Hamada reportedly threatening to resign before having a few words of advice from his lawyers. Considering that none of the cast, crew, or representatives were informed of the decision before it became public, it’s understandable why many filmmakers and actors are now reluctant to work with Warner Bros. Discovery. Speaking of the Batgirl film, we didn’t get an update about the supposed meeting between the canceled film’s director and Gunn. Hopefully, it went well and Gunn is just hiding their plans for, what we hope is a Batman Beyond project.
