When Warner Bros. Discovery decided to pull the plug on Batgirl - despite the fact principal photography had wrapped - fans and filmmakers alike were left reeling. It was an unprecedented move, and one which saw Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah's DC Comics adaptation deemed "unreleasable."
Considering the fact moviegoers have suffered through the likes of Black Adam and The Flash over the past year or so, it's hard to believe a title made for Max was that bad. Instead, the prevailing opinion is that David Zaslav wanted to save money by scrapping a movie unlikely to recoup its costs from a streaming debut.
After declaring Batgirl a "tax write-off," it became clear the studio had no intention of ever releasing the movie. In fact, after hosting what's been described as a "funeral screening," the entire thing was reportedly deleted and the filmmakers were forbidden from having any further access to it (to avoid a repeat of the #ReleaseTheSnyderCut debacle).
As well as introducing Leslie Grace as Barbara Gordon, the plan had been to bring Michael Keaton back as Gotham City's Batman following the events of The Flash.
Talking to The Hollywood Reporter, Loki and Batgirl composer Natalie Holt reflected on her experience working on the DC Comics adaptation and how it felt to have the project taken from her after spending a year working on its score.
"Do you know what? I just haven’t listened back to it," she admitted. "So many things happened last year, and I needed a bit of time. I had some time this summer to reflect on where I want to go and also process the experiences I’ve been through creatively, but I haven’t really listened back to it yet. So ask me next year, maybe. [Laughs] I’ve just put it away and it feels sad."
"I was really fond of that project, and I’d been working on it for a year with [directors] Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah. I also got to meet Danny Elfman, who gave me approval to work with his theme from Batman 1989," Holt continues. "So it’s just sad, and I also really wanted to do a film. I haven’t really had a big film to work on yet, so hopefully that day will come soon."
It's a disappointing situation for everyone involved and, for the time being, we have no idea what the future holds in store for Batgirl on screen.
The plan had been for Batgirl to lead to this Dark Knight taking centre stage in a Batman Beyond project, likely meaning we could have looked forward to the Bat Family being part of the now-defunct DCEU. Instead, DC Studios is rebooting the franchise as the DCU, with a new Bruce Wayne set to take centre stage in The Brave and the Bold.