Filmmakers Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah for Batgirl were in Morocco, where they had just celebrated El Arbi’s marriage at a party with guests including Will Smith from Bad Boys for Life. In the glimmer of the joyous event, they learned shockingly that their next DC feature Batgirl will be postponed, despite being far into post-production and scheduled to premiere on HBO Max. The filmmakers allegedly received a heads-up just before the web pieces went viral.
Batgirl was a victim of Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav’s new business strategy, who decided to postpone the project in order to take a tax write-off on the $90 million movie, according to various sources. Under previous WarnerMedia CEO Jason Kilar, the movie had been given the go-ahead for a budget of about $80 million. Kilar also set up a number of DC projects for HBO Max, which would have a more modest budget than a theatrical DC release. The COVID-19 guidelines caused a $90 million increase in its budget.
Batgirl was regarded as one of the most fascinating of the impending DC movies just a few months ago. It originated from the team known as Adil & Bilall, who rose to fame with Bad Boys for Life (2020) and proceeded to generate buzz with well-received Ms. Marvel episodes that were published this summer on Disney+. Even the head of Marvel Studios, Kevin Feige, indicated an interest in finding out movie spoilers. With Leslie Grace portraying the lead in a DC Extended Universe movie for the first time, transgender actress Ivory Aquino playing a supporting part, and Adil & Bilall bringing their distinctive experience as Muslim Belgian Moroccan filmmakers, Batgirl was also hailed as a victory for representation. Additionally, Michael Keaton returned as Batman.
With Glasgow, Scotland, standing in for Gotham City, Batgirl seemed more understated than, say, The Batman, which had a production budget roughly $100 million greater than Batgirl’s. Under Zaslav’s direction, Warners management felt that it wouldn’t provide the spectacle that DC viewers had come to expect. Nevertheless, because Batgirl was intended to be the first of a series of smaller DC movies, its
smaller vibe was ingrained in its very DNA.
