In the wake of Batgirl’s abrupt cancellation, famed director Kevin Smith had some choice words for Warner Bros. Discovery.
Speaking on his YouTube channel, Smith pulled no punches, describing the decision as “an incredibly bad look to cancel the Latina Batgirl movie. I don’t give a sh*t if the movie was absolute f*cking dogsh*t, man, and I guarantee you that it wasn’t.”
Directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah were a bit more graceful in expressing their thoughts. In an Instagram post, the Belgian directors expressed their sadness and frustration, but without lambasting WBD in the process.
Like Smith, fans have been livid. On Aug. 3, the newly merged Warner Bros Discovery announced that it was slashing the movie and television budget, and the first victim was the upcoming HBO Max film, Batgirl. Reportedly, the film was nearly complete and would have starred Leslie Grace as Barbara Gordon/Batgirl, though the big news was Michael Keaton donning the 1989 Batman costume once again.
The decision amounts to a $90 million investment that is now down the drain, and it’s left the cast, crew, and fans asking why. David Zaslav, President and CEO of WBD, gave some insight during a post-earnings call last week, saying:
“We’re not going to launch your movie until it’s ready. We’re not going to launch a movie to make a quota, and we’re not going to put a movie out unless we believe in it, particularly with DC, where we think we want to pivot, and we want to elevate and we want to focus.
“The objective is to grow the DC brand, to grow the DC characters, but also, our job is to protect the DC brand, and that’s what we’re going to do.”
While Hollywood circles its wagons around Batgirl’s cast and crew, Zaslav may have a point. Reportedly, the early Batgirl test screenings scored poorly audiences, and the former WarnerMedia historically has put emphasis on those results.