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THE DIRECTORS OF Batgirl have said they are “saddened and shocked” that Warner Bros has scrapped the film months before it was due to be released.
Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah shared a joint statement on Instagram saying they wished fans could have the “opportunity to see and embrace the final film themselves”.
The DC film, with Hollywood stars Michael Keaton, Brendan Fraser, JK Simmons and Leslie Grace, was filmed in Glasgow.
Production reportedly cost an estimated $70 million (€68 million) and the film was scheduled for release in late 2022.
After test screenings the studio decided to shelve the production completely, and it will no longer appear in cinemas or on streaming service HBO Max, according to US outlets.
It comes after several cast and crew members including Grace and co-star Ethan Kai, as well as the directors, were pictured filming in Scotland.
El Arbi and Fallah said: “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. Maybe one day they will insha’Allah (if God wills).
“Our amazing cast and crew did a tremendous job and worked so hard to bring Batgirl to life.
“We are forever grateful to have been part of that team. It was a dream to work with such fantastic actors like Michael Keaton, J.K. Simmons, Brendan Fraser, Jacob Scipio, Corey Johnson, Rebecca Front and especially the great Leslie Grace, who portrayed Batgirl with so much passion, dedication and humanity.”
They added: “In any case, as huge fans of Batman since we were little kids, it was a privilege and an honor to have been a part of the DCEU, even if it was for a brief moment,” and signed off their statement “Batgirl For Life”.
In January, the Trongate area of Glasgow was transformed by set builders into Gotham City with alterations made to shop fronts and police cars.
Batgirl was due to focus on Barbara Gordon, the daughter of Gotham police commissioner Jim Gordon.
DC has been contacted for comment.
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Go woke go broke
Don’t buy into the studios narrative that it was unsalvageable. Warner’s have no owners due to a merger and the new head wants to scrap HBO Max’s scripted content in favour of reality tv, as he’s the brainchild behind dreck like Amish Mafia and Property Brothers. Batgirl didn’t fit his vision so he scrapped it (along with a Scooby Doo animated film that was almost practically fully finished) and pinned the blame on the creatives who now have to have that mark on their careers despite the fact that nobody even saw a trailer for the movie let alone the movie itself. Every film deserves its day in court and this one isn’t even being a trial because of a corporate suit with a horrible viewpoint on the movie business
@Jake Kelly: the audiences are really to blame thiugh, the suits only care about the bottom line, and unfortunately reality TV is more watched and sells. If more viewers watched the likes of Batgirl more then it would be in the cinemas. Not saying I like the decision made, but the suits only pander to the public
@D. Memery: I’m not buying that. I know Garth Brooks sold out 5 nights in a row here but I refuse to believe things have gotten to the point where reality TV tops demand. There’s just no way.
@D. Memery: Yes superhero movies have gone too low budget and art house for mainstream audiences. The MCU needs your support, please donate as little as €2 a month and you can adopt a superhero today.
@D. Memery: It’s cheap to do reality tv, very cheap compared to scripted tv, they can churn out probably 10-15 reality shows for the cost of 1 scripted tv show, if 5 are successful it’s happy days.
@D. Memery: WBD is in worse financial state than it’s been letting on and is killing films, inc. Batgirl, to write off as a loss on their taxes for tens of millions of dollars. The reason this story broke as “Batgirl movie is getting shelved because it’s so bad” is because execs don’t want to spook investors and risk their stock price taking a hit, so they’re trying to keep up appearances by blaming creative. Looks less desperate.
The idea execs pander to the public is another excuse shifting blame from decision makers. In the 80s, 90% of US media was owned by fifty companies. Now, 90% of US media is owned by five companies, one of which is WBD. Ludicrous to act like the heads of these colossal conglomerates, the biggest in history, are just bowing to the demands of the almighty audience.
No matter how much you decorate and present it, a turkey is still a turkey
@Paul: I like that. Turkey Girl.
@Paul: So what? People would still go to see it. It’s very peculiar to scrap it altogether.
@Paul: and you know it’s a Turkey because??. A big multi dollar corporation regime who are systematically slaughtering Warner Bros film and tv projects across their streaming siteand tv networks that decided to f*ck a bunch of creatives over told us it was bad despite their no trailers or footage released so that it conveniently make them seem less like the bad guys.
Saying it has been shelved after test screenings is making it seem like the screenings were not good, infact they were quite positive and by all accounts looked to be a decent movie but it’s the management structure within Discovery that have decided that they csn write off $70m dollars and have it work best for their accounts this year
@Colm Connolly: I read that the test screenings were bad as a major factor. The financial decision is always a factor. Strange they decided on a Batgirl movie after the series didn’t do well either. This is the 3rd attempt with Batgirl if you count the Birds of Prey tv series
@Colm Connolly: where did you read that the screenings were positive? From what I read, the reviews were so poor that it was irredeemably bad.
Though apparently Brendan Fraser was very good in it.
The film was in post-production and almost fully complete so to not even release it to stream says a lot.
@Colm Connolly: If they got someone like George Lucas in for a reedit, it would surely be redeemable. It’s amazing how close the first Star Wars was to being completely forgotten. Totally saved in the edit.
I haven’t seen it but I can tell you its probably sh%te
@Paul Kossoff: Well Paul, if the daily mail said it then it must be true…. FFS I’m surprised they didn’t try and blame Brexit or immigration.
@Paul Kossoff: The mail also recently ran a story about how Truck drivers had gone ‘woke’ because they were eschewing breakfast rolls in favour of healthier options…. They literally don’t understand what the phrase means.
This is far more publicity than any multi million dollar ad campaign could yield.
No doubt this will be coming soon to a screen/steamer near you!
@Kevin Hill: if it does then they can’t use it as a write off and no way will it garner €70m for wb thru hbo max subscriptions or even selling the international rights to prime or netflix
Oh I wish hollywood would stop just re releasing super hero movies like Spider-Man and DC universe year after year /same rehashed stuff the avengers superman the Xmen it’s too much /
What they cancelled Batgirl ffs that’s outrageous
Batgirl was never a real person.
@Mick Hyland: wait, whaaaat ? Oh ! no !
Hopefully they’ll scrap The Flash too.
Although, I would like them to salvage Michael Keaton’s Batman footage and use it elsewhere.
Maybe they can insert it into a future visions segment in another movie
Movies today are reflective of the terrible attention span of individuals today. Tik tok. FB, Instagram, have all contributed to short attention spans due to the short, instantaneous dopamine hit. Another green mile or shawshank would probably result in mass walk outs or worse a snooze fest in cinemas.
The crap that’s been pumped out over the last few years are the equivalent of ” My Pet goat loves me and i love it” the end. I’ve not paid one cintilla to these “accountants” and i don’t see that changing anytime soon.
Everything finds its own level, eventually. Personally speaking, superhero movies….for the man whose never grown up. A bit sad when there’s so many brilliant (and intelligent) ‘films’ out there. As for Bat Turkey – agenda pushing nonsense. Most good actors just rent themselves out so as to buy that big house or because they know they won’t be taken seriously anywhere else.
Other than Christopher Nolans Batman Trilogy and possibly, maybe…!! Man of Steel, the DC universe movies haven’t been able to hold a candle to the Marvel movies…. Is it the directors, writers, studios or a combo of all of they above. The source material is as good on many levels as Marvel..
@antisocialbarber: They’re all garbage. Scorcese was right, theme park movies.
have your say