The once-forthcoming Batgirl movie is reportedly being shelved, despite a previous expected release for later this year on HBO Max, and a $70 million budget.
The news of the film reels for Batgirl heading back into the Batcave for storage comes from the New York Post, who cited an unnamed “top Hollywood source.”
According to the article, Batgirl “won’t hit theaters or the streaming service HBO Max. Fans will not see it.”
In addition, the Warner Bros. film of a beloved DC character’s initial budget of $70 million was supposedly under-reported, to boot. As the article states,
“[T]he source said the budget was actually more than $100 million.”
This all comes after test screenings reportedly performed poorly with audiences, according to NYP, with the source characterizing WB’s assessment of the film as “irredeemable.”
If this news turns out to be true, it would be a real shame since the movie was supposed to feature an all-star cast of In The Heights actor Leslie Grace as the titular Barbara Gordon, AKA Batgirl; J.K. Simmons reprising his role from Zack Snyder’s Justice League to play Commissioner Gordon; Michael Keaton reprising his role as Bruce Wayne, AKA Batman, from the classic Tim Burton duology; and Brendan Fraser as Garfield Lynns, AKA Firefly, in a role that was supposed to help bolster his career resurgence — or so we thought.
What’s more, directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah did a fantastic job helming the recent Disney Plus show Ms. Marvel, the most highly-critically rated title in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, so we’re frankly baffled at this outcome.
The NYP noted they have reached out to WB for comment. Until then, guess we’ll just have to hang tight to find out if this revelation of Batgirl being shelved gets officially confirmed by the studio themselves at some point.
