The cancellation of Leslie Grace’s Batgirl movie was a “bold and courageous decision” according to DC Studios co-CEO Peter Safran.
As reported by Variety, Safran shared his thoughts on Batgirl during a press event held at the Warner Bros. lot, during which he and fellow co-CEO James Gunn gave details on the first wave of movies and TV shows that will populate the rebooted DC universe.
“Batgirl’s a character that inevitably we will include in our story,” said Safran. “On the Batgirl front, it’s not about late in the process of the film getting cancelled. I saw the movie, and there are a lot of incredibly talented people in front of, and behind the camera on that film.”
"But that film was not releasable, and it happens sometimes," he continued. "I actually think that [president and CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery David] 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."
The $90 million movie had reportedly completed shooting and was well into post production when it was shuttered in early 2022 by new leadership in the wake of Discovery’s merger with WarnerMedia.
Safran also reiterated that he would welcome the opportunity to work with the writers and directors of Batgirl in future projects, and that “some people are already back in business with us”.
IGN covered the full story of Batgirl's cancellation, including the fallout from those involved. Star Leslie Grace lamented the loss of its "amazing action scenes", while Brendan Fraser called its cancellation tragic.
Anthony is a freelance contributor covering science and video gaming news for IGN. He has over eight years experience of covering breaking developments in multiple scientific fields and absolutely no time for your shenanigans. Follow him on Twitter @BeardConGamer
source https://www.ign.com/articles/dc-studios-peter-safran-says-it-was-right-to-cancel-batgirl-that-film-was-not-releasable