The reasoning behind Batgirl’s cancellation grows ever stronger with each passing day. If you didn’t know, Warner Bros. and HBO Max shocked DC fans this week when they pulled the plug on the upcoming Batgirl film, despite the fact that it had cost $90 million and had completed filming.
Lead actress Leslie Grace reacted to the news noting that she was “blessed to have worked among absolute greats” whilst a Warner Bros. spokesperson added that “Leslie Grace is an incredibly talented actor and this decision is not a reflection of her performance.” Considering everyone involved was praising the project, fans were left wondering why exactly the film had been cancelled.
Batgirl is one of four playable characters in Gotham Knights. Check out Batgirl in action ahead of the game’s release later this year.
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Just yesterday, Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav shed light on the situation during a quarterly earnings call. As reported by ComicBook, Zaslav expressed a desire to “bring Warners back” and to “produce great high quality films,” with DC content being a top priority. Zaslav highlighted Batman, Superman, Wonder Woman and Aquaman as standout IPs, reflecting an intention to focus on DC’s best known characters.
He continued, “We have done a reset. We've restructured the business. We're going to focus. There will be a team with a 10-year plan focusing just on DC. It's very similar to the structure that Alan Horn and Bob Iger put together, very effectively, with Kevin Feige at Disney.” The DCEU has already failed to match the MCU so it’ll be interesting to see what plans Warner Bros. have in store.
Zaslav added, “DC is something that we think we could make better, and we're focused on it now. We have some great DC films coming up — Black Adam, Shazam!, and The Flash. We're working on all of those. We're very excited about them." Given that Ezra Miller is facing allegations of harassment and grooming, it’s an interesting choice to praise The Flash given that the cancellation of Batgirl lessens DC’s pool of female heroes even further.
Zaslav finished by confirming the company’s plan to return to theatrical releases, noting that “we cannot find an economic case” for “the idea of expensive films going directly to streaming.” So there you have it. It looks like Batgirl’s $90 million budget didn’t give the film the look Warner Bros. are hoping for.
Topics: DC, TV And Film, Warner Bros