Batgirl: Why Warner Bros. Reportedly Can’t Sell the Movie to Another Studio

Shockwaves were sent through the world of superhero movies on Tuesday, when it was announced that Warner Bros. has cancelled its upcoming Batgirl movie, instead of releasing the project in theaters or on HBO Max. The decision to shelve the film, which had already wrapped production and was reportedly in the test screening phase, has surprised and baffled many — and a new report from Variety sheds light on why it might have happened. According to several sources cited in their report, Warner Bros. Discovery’s decision to shelve Batgirl — as well as an animated sequel to Scoob!, which was also announced to be cancelled on Tuesday — will allow the studio to take a tax write-down on both films. This would hypothetically allow the studio to recoup the costs of both projects, as long as they did not monetize either movie, whether by releasing it on HBO Max or selling it to another studio.

Given recent reports surrounding Warner Bros. Discovery’s recent business decisions, with the company reportedly looking to trim $3 billion from the company’s budget, this would not necessarily be unprecedented. The studio has already cut scripted programming at the cable networks TNT and TBS, even going so far as cancelling shows hours before their season premieres. It was also announced earlier this week that the studio plans to no longer have HBO Max focus on “live-action kids and family programming.” Still, the decision to cancel two high-profile movies in the process — including a long-awaited entry in the DC universe — is still a shocking one.

Batgirl was directed by Bilall Fallah and Adil El Arbi, with a script written by Christina Hodson. The film would’ve starred Leslie Grace as Barbara Gordon / Batgirl, with JK Simmons reprising his role as Commissioner James Gordon, and Michael Keaton reprising his role as Bruce Wayne / Batman. Also joining the cast was Brendan Fraser as Firefly, Ivory Aquino as Alysia Yeoh, and Jacob Scipio, Rebecca Front, Corey Johnson, and Ethan Kai cast in currently-unknown roles.

“She definitely exceeds what I thought,” Grace revealed in an interview earlier this year. “I had to summon up some things in me that I didn’t even know were there. It was an incredible learning experience to be on set with also action veterans like Brendan Fraser, and soak up it all up. It was so hard because he’s our villain and I’m not supposed to like but he’s such a huge teddy bear. He is one of the nicest people that I’ve ever met. In our fight sequences the way he would just hit marks, it came from all of his experience. You can’t improvise that kind of experience. There’s some crazy stuff that happens. There’s lots of fire because as everyone knows by now, he plays Firefly. There’s crazy fire. There’s crazy stunts, crazy drops. She’s a biker chick, so you’re going to see her do a bunch of badassery.”

What do you think of the newest update surrounding DC’s Batgirl cancellation? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!