The New York Post was first to break the news about Batgirl's cancellation at Warner Bros. Discovery, and they claimed the movie was scrapped due to overwhelmingly negative test screenings. Since then, we've heard it may be down to everything from tax breaks to the movie simply being too small-scale for a theatrical release.
Nothing is really adding up, but we might now be able to debunk the notion that audiences rejected Batgirl after seeing an early cut of Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah's movie.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, there was only one test screening and it had temporary VFX and a placeholder score. Used as a way to gauge what people do and don't respond to in a movie rather than a way of deciding whether a potential blockbuster should ever see the light of day, test screenings are important, and Batgirl ended up scoring in the 60s.
Is that good or bad?
Well, it puts it in the same place as It (which grossed over $700 million worldwide), and even this December's Shazam! Fury of the Gods, a movie that is receiving a theatrical release.
Again, it doesn't really make a lot of sense, but Warner Bros. Discovery is shifting away from making features for its streaming service, and CEO David Zaslav seemingly had grave concerns that Batgirl wasn't a big enough spectacle for theaters. He's already scrapped Wonder Twins and has a mandate moving forward that all big-screen releases need to "feel theatrical."
As for why Batgirl couldn't just be "dumped" on streaming, the trade makes a very good point. It simply doesn't make sense to spend $90 million on a streaming movie that, ultimately, won't necessarily attract any more subscribers than one costing $40 million. Throw in the fact that this DC Comics adaptation would have cost tens of millions to promote, and the cancellation does make business sense.
For fans, though, that's little consolation.
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