Directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah did not hesitate to clarify why DC's anticipated adaptation of Batgirl was suddenly shelved by Warner Bros. Discovery. According to Arbi and Fallah talking to SKRIPT, they still have the desire to make this "Batgirl" movie.
On August 2, the Batgirl movie is mysteriously and indefinitely shelved which was actually set to be released on HBO Max. The $90 million budgeted film already made use of the $80 million of its budget due to COVID precautions and sudden shutdown. Filming was nearly over and the directors, Arbi and Falah, already started to work on the VFX when Warner Bros. canceled the movie starring Leslie Grace, J.K. Simmons, Michael Keaton, and Brendan Fraser.
According to the interview with SKRIPT, the filmmakers clarified fans twisted brains by denying the rumor that poor screenings made Warner Bros. decide to cancel the film's nearly-end production. Per El Arbi, "The guys from Warners told us it was not a talent problem from our part or the actress, or even the quality of the movie. They told us it was a strategic change. There was new management, and they wanted to save some money."
Fallah's subsequent reaction to cancelation is also a note-worth moment of the interview. He said"First, when I heard the news, I was shocked, I didn’t know how to react. I wanted to break stuff, cry, and even laugh. I was like, 'This is not happening.'"
However, both Fallah and El Arbi hope to release Batgirl someday, especially after the story of Synder's Cut is released due to fans' overly-published Tweets circulating on social media. As Arbi mentions, currently, Batgirl cannot be released since there are still lots of work to do. "There’s no VFX, we still had to shoot some scenes. So if they wanted us to release the ‘Batgirl’ movie they would need to give us the means to do it, to finish it properly with our vision."
The last but not least issue on Batgirl is the directors' current access to the footage they shot. The directors' alleged that their access to the production server is blocked by Warner Bros. Discovery. "We have nothing," Fallah said and the duo points out their deepest sadness.
They still seem to have hope for the Batgirl movie's future possibility. Fallah thanked for all the support coming from Edgar Wright and James Gunn. El Arbi agreed and added that they make their movies for the audience, not for themselves. He also put his hope in words and said "We are a small family."