Warner Bros. never considered a theatrical release for Batgirl, according to a new report. Batgirl was set to star Leslie Grace as the title hero and be directed by Bad Boys For Life directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah. The movie had completed filming and was already in post-production, set to debut on HBO Max sometime in 2022 as part of an attempt to grow the streaming service.
Batgirl completed principal photography in March 2022, and the film already had been marketed at DC FanDome in 2021. However, Warner Bros. Discovery has made the shocking announcement to cancel the release of Batgirl. It will now no longer release at all, on either HBO Max or in theaters. This news was particularly shocking, as rumors had begun to circulate that Warner Bros. Discovery was investing heavily in DC characters as theatrical releases and might bump up the release of Batgirl to cinemas. This would've been similar to what happened for Blue Beetle, which was originally planned as an HBO Max film before getting an August 18, 2023 theatrical release date.
Now, a new report from Variety claims that the studio never considered giving Batgirl a theatrical release. The report mentions how after the Warner Bros. Discovery merger, the new regime did not feel the movie was big enough to warrant a theatrical release, and that the cost of expanding its scope with reshoots - as well as the $30-50 million required just for market it domestically, let alone worldwide - would have doubled the budget. Insiders reportedly said this was a non-starter for Warner Bros. Discovery, which has been trying to cut costs. Executives reportedly also believed that, while Batgirl was not big enough for theaters, it was also not small enough to make economic sense to release on streaming.
The cancellation of Batgirl is stunning, but comes as part of a wave of cancellations by Warner Bros. Discovery in the past year. Wonder Twins was another DC superhero film set for HBO Max that had just been cast when the studio axed it. Various The CW series, including Batwoman, Legends of Tomorrow, and Naomi, were cancelled. The studio has been tightening its spending, with the new regime angry about having made Clint Eastwood's Cry Macho, indicating the legendary filmmaker who has a long working relationship with the studio may no longer have carte blanche.
History is repeating itself, as when Warner Bros. was sold to AT&T, that regime change led to the cancellation of various DC projects, including a Deathstroke movie with star Joe Manganiello. The decision to scrap Batgirl entirely after the film has been completed seems short-sighted, particularly as the studio is currently developing Joker: Folie à Deux, a sequel to 2019's Joker - which, like Batgirl, was a Batman spinoff with a smaller budget. Joker eventually went on to gross $1 billion dollars at the worldwide box office, and even if it's a riskier proposition, Batgirl deserves the chance to find that kind of success.
Source: Variety
