The internet is still basking and quaking in its boots over Warner Bros. canceling the long-awaited Batgirl, but we have some new insight into why, and it’s the rest audiences to blame.
Not often do studios pull films after they’ve wrapped filming and already plugged an estimated $70 million into it, but Warner Bros. isn’t all studios. Batgirl was set to be a breakout vehicle for Leslie Grace, and a return to the role of Batman for Michael Keaton, but instead it’ll be lost to the annals of history.
But, we have an insight into what caused the axing: those blasted test audiences. Yes, the film tested so poorly and was compared to a “bad episode of TV” according to one source. Considering Warner Bros. had previously greenlit 2016’s Suicide Squad and still went ahead with it, is really saying something about its quality.
A source told Rolling Stone that the studio didn’t think any amount of money thrown at it could redeem its lack of quality, using the term “throw bad money after good”. Warner Bros. had said that the axing had nothing to do with Grace as Barbara Gordon / Batgirl, calling her “an incredibly talented actor and this decision is not a reflection of her performance”.
The move was universally criticized to scrap it, with many wondering how Warner Bros. was okay to ax Batgirl, but keep Ezra Miller’s The Flash up in the limelight, untouched by the star’s controversies.
Whether or not Batgirl will see the light of day from here is unknown: perhaps public pressure could see it eventually making its way onto HBO Max as initially intended. Or, it’ll just get leaked a la the lost Fantastic Four film from the 1990s.