Warner Bros.' Batgirl movie adaptation has reportedly been scrapped in the final stages of post production after racking up a $90 million bill.
The New York Post was the first to report the news, and it was later confirmed by Deadline. It's said that Warner Bros. has completely canceled the Batgirl movie and has pulled it from release on the HBO Max streaming platform and theatrically. That means fans looking forward to the adaptation simply won't be able to see it, anywhere, unless Warner Bros. changes its mind or the movie somehow leaks.
The exact details behind Warner Bros.' decision to cancel this movie, despite taking such a massive financial loss, is a little fuzzy at the moment. However, Deadline reports that the project didn't gel with the company's new strategy for DC movies and HBO Max. The studio had reportedly been having conversations recently about which movies would premiere in theaters or on HBO Max, and which would be shelved entirely, and it's said that Batgirl simply didn't make the cut.
The Hollywood Reporter claims Batgirl's production cost had exceeded its roughly $80 million budget by almost $10 million. For reference, Robert Pattinson's The Batman was budgeted at $185 million. So, while $90 million is nothing to sniff at, Batgirl was always intended to be a smaller budget movie compared to some of DC's biggest hitters.
Batgirl was set to star Leslie Grace as the titular superhero and J.K. Simmons, Michael Keaton, and Brendan Fraser rounding out the star-studded cast. Along with Batgirl, the animated movie Scoob: Holiday Haunt has also been shelved.
If you're bummed about the news, watch one of the best superhero movies available now to cheer yourself up.
Ben Affleck reflects on the "excruciating experience" playing Batman in the Zack Snyder movies: "A lot of it was misalignment of agendas, understandings, expectations"
James Gunn reacts to Jason Momoa almost spoiling his Lobo costume in an interview: "I just want to profoundly thank Jason’s publicist"
