One of the producers behind DC Studios has broken his silence on the cancellation of Batgirl.
During the DC Universe slate presentation, DC Studios co-head Peter Safran offered his thoughts on the much-discussed cancellation of Batgirl. Safran described the Leslie Grace starrer as “not releasable,” with the producer showing his support to Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav, who was criticized for his decision to axe its release.
“I saw the movie,” Safran said during the presentation. “There are a lot of incredibly talented people in front and behind the camera on that film. But that film was not releasable. It happens sometimes. I actually think that Zaslav and the team made a very bold and courageous decision to cancel it because it would have hurt DC. It would have hurt those people involved. I think that they really stood up to support DC, the characters, the story, the quality of all of that.”
The DC Studios co-head continued: “I spoke to the directors last week. We’d love to be in business with all those folks. Christina Hodson, who wrote it. Some of these people we’re already back in business with. It would not have been able to compete in the theatrical marketplace. It was built for the small screen. I think that it was not an easy decision, but they made the right decision.”
Batgirl was shelved back in August 2022, following the merger between Warner Bros. and Discovery. The movie was used as a tax-write off. The move received widespread criticism and almost led to a premature studio exit from former DC Films president Walter Hamada.
Is Leslie Grace coming back as Batgirl?
Reports at the time of the Batgirl cancellation indicated that Warner Bros. Pictures Group co-chiefs Michael De Luca and Pam Abdy are considering having Leslie Grace appear as Barbara Gordon in other DC Comics movies. For now, Grace’s Batgirl future remains in doubt as James Gunn and Peter Safran continue mapping out the future of the DC Universe.
Michael Keaton’s Batman, one of the main characters of Batgirl, is set to appear in Ezra Miller’s first cinematic solo outing as The Flash, which is currently slated to hit theaters in Summer 2023. He’s also supposed to be in Aquaman and the Lost Kingdom, but his cameo may have been cut following a recent round of release date shifts.
Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah were the directors of the Batgirl movie, working from a script by Christina Hodson, the writer behind Birds of Prey and The Flash. Its cast also included J. K. Simmons as James Gordon, Jacob Scipio as Anthony Bressi, Ivory Aquino as Alysia Yeoh and Brendan Fraser as Firefly. Rebecca Front, Corey Johnson and Ethan Kai were also on board in undisclosed role.
Stay tuned for the latest news regarding the DC Universe and make sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel for more content!
