While the decision by Warner Bros. Discovery to cancel Batgirl left many DC fans shocked and disappointed, we can only imagine the reaction of the cast and crew who’d dedicated many months of their lives towards a project which now seems unlikely to ever see the light of day.
However, there is some small consolation for the likes of filmmakers Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, star Leslie Grace and the rest of those involved with the $90 million production as THR is reporting that Warner Bros. is currently holding “funeral screenings” of Batgirl to allow them to see the movie before the footage is put under lock and key.
According to THR’s report, with Warner Bros. looking to claim a tax write-down on Batgirl, the studio would be unable to generate any revenue from the footage unless it paid back its tax liability to the government in full, which would prohibit any kind of Zack Snyder’s Justice League (or even Richard Donner’s Superman II) release further down.
SEE ALSO: Batgirl directors on their unfinished film and losing access to the footage
As bleak as Warner’s cost-saving measures and financial position seem to be, it’s reported that the studio has considered actually destroying the Batgirl footage in order to try claim the write-down on the full $90 million budget, rather than it being spread over a number of years as standard.
Batgirl was directed by Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah (Bad Boys For Life) and featured Leslie Grace (In the Heights) as Barbara Gordon/Batgirl, J.K. Simmons (Justice League) as Commissioner Jim Gordon, Micheal Keaton (The Flash) as Bruce Wayne/Batman, Brendan Fraser (Doom Patrol) as Firefly, Ivory Aquino (When They See Us) as Alysia Yeoh and Jacob Scipio (Bad Boys for Life), Rebecca Front (Avenue 5), Corey Johnson (Morbius) and Ethan Kai (Killing Eve) in unrevealed roles.
