Tons of fans were upset to hear that the HBO Max Batgirl film would never be released, but the higher-ups at DC claim that it’s better for everyone. There’s still no concrete reason as to why exactly the movie got permanently shelved, but there are a number of theories. It’s certainly not the case that DC is scrapping everything made prior to the arrival of new co-CEOs James Gunn and Peter Safran. The Flash and Shazam! Fury of the Gods are still coming out.
Speaking about the project as part of the promotion of DC’s new slate of connected movies and shows, Safran, it’s good for everyone involved that the movie never came out. Via Comicbook.com, he shed a bit more light on his feelings. Whether this is the truth about the movie or he’s just toeing the company line, we really can’t know. BUt here’s what he said:
Batgirl’s a character that inevitably we will include in our story … I saw the [unreleased] 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 … 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.
On the bright side, Safran and Gunn are lining up a ton of new projects to take Batgirl’s place. They’re also bringing out some seriously obscure characters, at least in regards to their film appearances. A Booster Gold project was announced this week, in addition to your usual Batman and Superman films. A Swamp Thing film is also in the works, which’ll definitely please fans of the cancelled-too-soon streaming series on DC Universe.
The New DC Universe of Movies and Shows
All the projects announced by DC Studios as the start of “Chapter 1” of the company’s new universe of movies and shows.
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