Batgirl has been cancelled by Warner Bros! The story was seemingly first carried by The Wrap:
“Made under a previous regime, Batgirl was initially designed to be an HBO Max release, and then was being considered for theatrical distribution […] The leaders of the studio determined ultimately, in spite of reshoots and increased budget, that the movie simply did not work, according to insiders. The new owners and management, led by CEO David Zaslav, are committed to making DC titles big theatrical event films, and Batgirl isn’t that. Insiders added that studio brass loves the film’s directors and star, and are actively planning to work with them soon.
Warner Bros. Discovery is working to elevate DC Films to be seen on the big screen. Batgirl had not been scripted or produced as a theatrical film.”
Meanwhile, here’s Reel James from YouTube with his take on the news:
Here’s our previous coverage of this project which apparently cost $90 million:
Batgirl is a 2022 superhero film featuring the DC Comics character as the lead protagonist played by Leslie Grace.
Directed by Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah (Bad Boys for Life) from a screenplay by Christina Hodson (Birds of Prey; The Flash).
The movie stars aforementioned Leslie Grace as Barbara Gordon/Batgirl, J.K. Simmons (Justice League) as Commissioner Jim Gordon, Micheal Keaton (The Flash) as Bruce Wayne/Batman, Brendan Fraser (Doom Patrol) as Firefly, Ivory Aquino (When They See Us) as Alysia Yeoh and Jacob Scipio, Rebecca Front, Corey Johnson (Morbius) and Ethan Kai in roles yet to be revealed.
Leslie Grace told Variety about her excitement for the role and working with Michael Keaton: “It was wild for everyone. Our directors were like two little kids. They’re legit Batman nerds openly. I couldn’t even believe that I was sharing space with Batman. I want to say more, but I can’t. It was insane, surreal, incredible. It was the stuff of dreams really. And J.K. Simmons playing my dad. That’s my pop.”
Grace also talked about the possibility of a sequel: “There’s definitely some talks about what it could be… We’ve already been talking about where do we take this from here because there’s so much that happens in this film. There are a lot of different themes in the plot that we touch on. It’s not just the action. There’s a love story. There’s this father-daughter relationship. There’s looking at the world through a lens that isn’t just black and white and seeing the colour between things.”
Previously we reported that after much speculation it was confirmed that Leslie Grace had been cast in the role of Batgirl for the upcoming movie. The singer-songwriter was recently seen in the musical In the Heights.
Previously, Batgirl was played on the big screen by Alicia Silverstone in Joel Schumacher’s Batman & Robin (1997).
Of course, before the arrival of Batgirl, fans will be able to enjoy a different version of Gotham City when Matt Reeves’ The Batman, with Robert Pattinson playing the Dark Knight, is released on March 4th 2022.
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