Why Warner Bros Axed Batgirl Movie After Spending Nearly 100 Million

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Warner Bros. has canceled the Batgirl film, which was set to star Leslie Grace, Michael Keaton, and Brendan Fraser. The DC Extended Universe film was supposed to be released on HBO Max, but it will no longer be released.

With a $90 million budget, the Bad Boys for Life directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah helmed the $90 million picture Batgirl, which was based on a screenplay by Christina Hodson (Birds of Prey, The Flash). However, despite COVID reshoots, delays, and considerable expense, Warner Bros. Recently, Discovery’s management changed, and the new studio executives determined the movie wasn’t good enough.

The $90 million film, which was testing with crowds ahead of a late 2022 release, would be one of the most expensive flops in movie history.

For the sake of the brand’s future, the studio reportedly chose to cut its losses and leave after those tests were reportedly greeted so negatively by moviegoers. It’s a disaster for DC.

“They think an unspeakable ‘Batgirl’ is going to be irredeemable,” a source said.

Warner Brothers Batgirl, which would have been the first DC Extended Universe film to be available only on streaming services, evidently wasn’t ready for the big screen despite Discovery’s stated goal of producing films for theatrical release.

“The decision to not release ‘Batgirl’ reflects our leadership’s strategic shift as it relates to the DC universe and HBO Max,” a Warner spokesperson stated.

Directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah wrote on Instagram, “We 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.”

Star Grace (In the Heights) expressed her excitement for the role and for the opportunity to collaborate with Keaton and other notables during interviews.

El Arbi and Fallah, who identified themselves as “big admirers of Batman since we were tiny kids,” praised her efforts.

“It was a dream to work with such fantastic actors like Michael Keaton, J.K. Simmons, Brendan Fraser … and especially the great Leslie Grace, who portrayed Batgirl with so much passion, dedication and humanity,” the Bad Boys for Life directing duo added.

Hollywood was shocked by the decision, as veterans of the business claimed it was uncommon for a film to be so nearly finished and have already spent so much money to not be released.

After Warner Bros. and Discovery merged, it looks like Batgirl was the victim of a shift in business direction.

Industry sources were quoted by trade publication Variety as claiming that Batgirl had fallen between two stools: she wasn’t large and glamorous enough for a theatrical release, with its pricey marketing requirements, but she was also too huge to be economically viable in the streaming environment.

Variety said that a tax write-down would likely be used to close the US$90 million hole this would create in the studio’s balance sheet. A tax write-down is a procedure where businesses lower their tax liability by deducting losses from their profits.

Sources: Dailywire, Npr, Fortune

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