Warner Brothers has announced that it has shelved the practically completed DC Comics film Batgirl after it scored poorly in test screenings. But why has the Batgirl movie been shelved? Is it just bad – or is there studio politics at play?
The movie, which reputedly cost between $70m and $90m to make, features an all-star cast including Leslie Grace (In the Heights) as Batgirl Barbara Gordon, J.K. Simmons (Spider Man: No Way Home) as her father Commissioner Jim Gordon, and Michael Keaton (Batman) as Batman. Brendan Fraser (Doom Patrol) was the villain Firefly.
Now it’s being claimed that the movie, which was scheduled to be shown on the HBO Max streaming service and possibly in cinemas, may never be shown in any medium.
If it’s true, this will have been one of the most expensive movies ever to have been cancelled in post-production. Rumour has it, though, that the decision is a purely marketing one, as DC wants all its releases in the wake of the successful The Batman starring Robert Pattinson to be equally big-budget.
Batgirl, directed by Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, was scheduled for a late 2022 release, but was not mentioned at the recent San Diego Comic Con in July, and now appears to have been shelved completely.
Batgirl
If it’s because of the quality of the movie, the news must have come as a shock to the stars, as Leslie Grace told Variety as recently as April that she was in discussions for a sequel. She said: “There’s crazy stunts, crazy drops… She’s a biker chick, so you’re going to see her do a bunch of badassery… There were a lot of long days, but it was so worth it.”
The news comes as Warner is also agonising over what to do with DC Comics adaptation The Flash, which is a central pillar of the DC Universe releases, but which has been blighted by the increasingly erratic behaviour of star Ezra Miller, who faces allegations of abuse and misconduct.
We may never have an answer to the question of why has the Batgirl movie been shelved – and unless a bootleg leaks out, we may never get the chance to judge its merits of otherwise for ourselves – but meanwhile, take a look below for our list of the Top Ten Worst Superhero Movies of All Time.
See also: What Are The Top Ten Worst Superhero Movies of All Time?
