Leslie Grace has expanded on Warner Bros. Discovery’s decision and the latest claim that the standalone superhero film was “not releasable” to the point where it would have “damaged” those engaged in developing it, six months after stating only a few words about it being shelved.
According to a story from last summer, filming on Batgirl was complete, but the visual effects were still being added. When Warner Bros. Discovery decided to switch away from straight-to-HBO Max movie releases and lock into a theaters-only strategy, the DC movie, which was initially conceived as an HBO Max exclusive, ended up with no showcase of any type. As a result, WBD decided to “disappear” the $90 million film and use it as a tax write-off while working to reduce its enormous debt.
Peter Safran recently commented on WBD CEO David Zaslav‘s decision to shelve Batgirl, stating, “I saw the movie, and there are a lot of really great people in front of and behind the camera on that film.
Peter and James Gunn are the new leaders of DC Studios (aka DC Films). However, that movie couldn’t be released. I genuinely believe that Zaslav and the team were brave to decide against it because it would have been detrimental to DC. Those concerned would have suffered because of it. It was made for the small screen and could not have competed in the theater market.
In an in-depth Q&A with our sister site Variety, Grace shared that when she first heard of Batgirl’s cancellation, “I thought I was getting punked, but it checked out. Then came hysterical laughter like, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me?'”
According to Grace, learning that the movie was being abandoned to pay off debt “truly stung” because “we were expecting XYZ amount of support and money to expand scenes – to do pickup shots and that kind of thing.”
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Regarding Safran’s remark that the movie was “not releasable,” Grace claimed that she had only seen the test version of the movie, which was incomplete. She added that “there were a lot of sequences that weren’t even in there,” but the movie she had seen, with the sections that were, was terrific. In my perspective, there was absolutely room for a good movie.
According to Grace, the new DC Studios executives Safran and/or Gunn have not communicated with her. However, I wish them luck with all of their following plans.
And if any of those plans require Batgirl’s services…? (As Safran himself said last month, “Batgirl’s a character that inevitably we will include in our story.”)
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“I can’t speak too much about a future for Batgirl or guarantee anything,” Grace hedged. “The last thing I want to do is give folks any inkling of something I have little control over — as we’ve learned.”
“What I find most lamentable is that now a whole generation of little girls will have to wait longer to see a Batgirl and say, ‘Hey, she looks like me,’” Grace shared. “That makes me sad. I know how good she was. And I know what this would mean to so many people.”
