Holy bat guano, Warner Bros. Some shocking news on the superhero front made headlines Tuesday afternoon (August 2) when reports revealed that Warner Bros. would no longer release its Batgirl movie at theaters or on HBO Max.
According to The Wrap, the budget for Batgirl, which stars Leslie Grace (In the Heights) in the title role, allegedly increased to $90 million because of reshoots and other hurdles like COVID shutdowns. After all that, insiders tell outlets that the movie “did not work.” Variety also confirmed the news.
The Wrap reports that the studio liked working with Grace and the film’s directors, Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah (Bad Boys for Life). However, the movie would not follow its commitment to making “DC titles big theatrical event films” and not “scripted or produced as a theatrical film.”
The New York Post’s reports were a bit more candid, calling the film a “DC disaster.” Allegedly, Batgirl, said to be a finished film, tested so poorly with pre-screening audiences “that the studio decided to cut its losses and run, for the sake of the brand’s future.”
According to the Post, a source told them, “[The studio] think[s] an unspeakable ‘Batgirl’ is going to be irredeemable.”
It seems that Grace has already parted ways with the character as some followers pointed out that her Batgirl posts are allegedly gone from her Instagram account.
It’s difficult to imagine how bad Batgirl had to be for a studio to shelve a nearly finished project and not release it – even on a streaming service. Some social media users wondered why something like Batgirl wouldn’t see the light of day, but Morbius did.“This #Batgirl news got me f—ed up,” one Twitter user wrote. “A world where Morbius and New Mutants exists but BATGIRL gets canned. Make it make sense please.”
Some also wondered why Batgirl is getting scrapped but not The Flash, which stars problematic actor Ezra Miller.
Some pointed to the fact that the lead is a Latina and woman of color — and in this industry, that means those projects or roles are often met with little to no support.
Whatever the reason the studio is pulling the plug on Batgirl, the consensus – at least right now – is that DC fans and everyone involved in the film deserved better.