Hollywood canceling movies is nothing new. However, it is unusual for a studio to spend around $90 million on a superhero film and then decide that no one should ever see it. But that’s exactly what happened to Batgirl, the DC movie that Warner Bros. Discovery pulled before it could be released. Leslie Grace had already filmed the lead role as Barbara Gordon, while J.K. Simmons played her father Jim Gordon and Brendan Fraser played the villain Firefly.
Michael Keaton was also returning as Batman, which made the story part of the wider DC Universe. Directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah had finished filming, and the movie was already in post-production when Warner Bros. Discovery announced in August 2022 that it would not be released in theaters or on HBO Max. Whatever factors led to the decision, Batgirl became one of the strangest canceled movies in recent Hollywood history.
Batgirl had already been filmed when Warner Bros. canceled it
The movie had been years in the making
The idea for Batgirl had been around for years before the movie finally went into production. Joss Whedon was originally hired to write and direct the project in 2017, but he left in 2018 after failing to develop a story. Christina Hodson was then brought in to write a new screenplay, and the project eventually moved forward with Arbi and Fallah directing.
What started as an HBO Max movie also became more expensive as production moved forward. The budget was originally reported to be around $70 million, but it eventually grew to roughly $90 million. Filming took place in Glasgow, Scotland, from November 2021 until March 2022, before the movie entered post-production.
This meant Warner Bros. Discovery was dealing with a project that looked nothing like the one it originally approved. The merger that created Warner Bros. Discovery brought a new approach to the company’s streaming strategy. Expensive movies made specifically for HBO Max were no longer viewed the same way, while the studio put more emphasis on theatrical releases.
Batgirl didn’t fit neatly into either plan. It was made for streaming, but its budget was reaching theatrical-release territory. That might not seem like a big deal, but the shift would’ve required more money for post-production costs and marketing, while sticking to HBO Max would’ve meant putting a $90 million movie onto a service the company had a different vision for.
The rumored story was about Barbara Gordon becoming Batgirl
Barbara Gordon was going to have an epic origin story
The Batgirl plot was never officially released because the movie never reached audiences. But a Reddit post compiling details from several sources offers a rumored idea of what the story contained. The story reportedly begins with a very young Barbara Gordon watching Batman save her father after criminals nearly kill him.
The story then supposedly time-jumps to an adult Barbara working at the GCPD, while Jim has retired after suffering a heart attack. She’s also dealing with the death of her mother, who was killed in a fire. Barbara eventually becomes interested in becoming a vigilante and uses her photographic memory to study fighting techniques and investigate cases at the GCPD.
Despite Batman trying to stop her from fighting crime, she stubbornly creates her own Batgirl costume and starts working alongside him. Fraser’s Firefly was reportedly connected to the story through his character Garfield Lynns, a former firefighter who turns to crime after losing his job while trying to support his sick wife.
Barbara believes he may have been responsible for her mother’s death and investigates him. The story also reportedly involved Anthony Bressi, the son of a Gotham crime boss, and Barbara’s relationships with her close friends, Jason Bard and Alysia Yeoh. Anthony’s connection to Gotham’s criminal underworld eventually puts him on the opposite side of Barbara.
The movie was shown to a very small audience
Despite a pretty strong rumored story premise, Warner Bros. Discovery ultimately decided not to release Batgirl at all. Instead, the studio chose to take a tax write-off on the project as part of its plan to cut billions of dollars in costs. Reports suggest negative reactions to a test screening played a role in the decision.
But that doesn’t seem likely, since Batgirl had only been shown tothe public once. At the time, the movie was also still unfinished, with temporary visual effects and a temporary score. That makes it difficult to know how people would’ve reacted to the completed version. Warner Bros. eventually held private screenings for people who worked on the movie.
Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter, one source described them as “funeral screenings” because the film was expected to be locked away after the screenings. Since directors Arbi and Fallah said they didn’t have access to the footage, Batgirl will never get a chance to one day have the equivalent of a Zack Snyder’s Justice League release.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, releasing Batgirl after taking a tax write-off could create problems for the studio’s ability to claim the write-off because the movie could potentially generate revenue in the future. There was even speculation that Warner Bros. might destroy the footage to prove it could never make money, although other sources disputed that this would be necessary.