What Could Have Been: Batgirl

Exploring the cancelled Batgirl movie starring Leslie Grace and the reasons behind Warner Bros. and DC's decision to cancel the film as a tax write-off. Learn about the plot details, Michael Keaton's role, and the impact of co-chair Peter Safran's choices on the project's cancellation.

⏱️TIMESTAMPS⏱️
0:00 Intro
0:15 Joss Whedon
2:01 HBO Max
2:55 Cast
3:20 The Plot
4:25 Firefly
7:59 Test Screening Reviews
9:20 What Went Wrong?

Shoutout to Neb for piecing together the plot!

#batgirl #dc

[pirate]

I can understand that the movie potentially might not be good, but i'd still like to see it. the characters seemed cool but the plot seemed a little light.

[thebaccathatchews]

Remember when one of the Toy Story films accidentally got deleted, and was saved because one of the editors had a copy? *Someone* has a copy of Batgirl.

[somebuddyX]

I doubt it was as bad as they said. I feel like it was just Zaslav wanting to save money anyway he could. I think it definitely will be released some day. All kinds of things have turned up eventually. It just bums me out how excited Leslie Grace was in interviews when she she was cast. I hope she gets another shot.

[AsherGrace]

We will never actually know whether it was "releasable" or not. I do find it interesting that test audiences thought the $75M superhero movie looked "cheap" without any finished FX. I really don't see how it couldn't. Sony's Madam Webb movie is thought to be around $75 Million and just about everyone who's seen the trailer thinks it looks "cheap" and like "The CW". Despite the claim that we are tired of "CGI-Fest", I don't know if modern audience's are going to be into low-budget superhero movies that feature a lot of practical FX.

[rushabhgautam]

Your explanation was so good it felt like i really watched the movie.

[NextToToddliness]

This movie was a victim of a regime change at HBO, much like the beloved Westworld, and the lesser known Raises By Wolves. I was disappoint, but not shocked. Sadly, those projects were more valuable as net loses, than functioning works. It's one of the parts of Show Business, or business in general actually, which most people don't think about or are ignorant towards. Either way, the studios can bank on losing completed works, because we are so media saturated, that most people wouldn't notice or end up forgetting. It just sucks so much talent, time and money was wasted in an industry brimming with wasted money, time & talent. That being said, everyone who worked on it got paid, as if it were released. So there's always that...

[LRon-efni]

I still wanna see this. Heck, actually having a cape on a motorcycle is a good sign just for the practicality of it.

[carltonpowell]

The cast and action sequences seem really fun in this. I dislike the script heavily however, it’s not Barbara Gordon, erasing the peaceful days of the OG Batman, Robin and Batgirl shoots down so many stories. And with her mother dying it erases the story with James Gordon Jr, one of the most loved arcs in batgirl and Batman history. Coulda just done a closer adaptation to Batgirl Year One.

I dunno, it’s a shame the movie got canned after so much effort, but I don’t think it would’ve been a good representation of Batgirl.

[Omar-wqdz]

Let’s see if someone ever leaks this movie. We can then look for ourselves to see if it’s as bad as everyone said

[Xinathor]

I just finished the brendon fraser interview about this movie right as I got the notification about your video.

[ontos]

I really don’t believe that it’s “unreleasable” considering they looked at the Flash and released that

[arthor]

Awesome! Thanks for covering this! Idk if many people would be interested, but maybe you can look into what a Van Helsing sequel would've looked like?

[uosdwiSrdewoH]

It's difficult to take anything they say seriously since to a person they all said 'The Flash' was one of the best comic book movies ever and it was absolute garbage. For a movie that cost more than twice what 'Batgirl' did it sure as hell looked cheap. You can't tell me that 'Batgirl' had a small scale ending when 'The Flash' finale takes place in a small section of desert with nothing else around. Batgirl was supposed to be a more small scale story. Flash was supposed to be a multiverse story yet it never felt like it had those kind of stakes.

[UPCM]

Going by BB's description, it sounds like Batgirl would have been Awesome! Really good, solid story and plot.
I think the real reason Batgirl movie was shelved because at that time Warner's was going through major changes...again. From WarnerMedia to Warner Discovery and the new head of Warner Discovery wanted to cut spending and used the excuse, "Batgirl was unwatchable" to save 90M as a tax right off. If the Batgirl movie was so terrible? The WB Execs. would have seen it in the dailies and stop production long before it got to 90% complete and over 90M in cost. I think the real reason is because WB has been such a disorganized clusterf*ck mess of a studio.

[Optionthirty]

Not being able to see Fraser return to the screen in this role is probably the most criminal part of this entire situation. Even if the film was total garbage, I'm willing to bet watching Brendan in this role would've been an absolute blast. Pun intended.

[Iwillone]

I think they should give her another shot at the role in The Batman.

[frogmouth]

Batgirl could have been the grestest film ever made and revolutionized the film industry if it was produced

[jinxie]

How sexist was the Whedon Wonder Woman script seeing what we got in the 2 WW movies? The portrayal of the Amazons is misandrist. There was a “Get back in the kitchen” scene in the 1st movie. They took over a dude’s body and used it for sex in WW84. She’s constantly used as the hottie in her appearances (even SHAZAM!).

[allenking]

Hope they bring back Leslie as Batgirl she should have a chance to show what could’ve been

[fixfund]

i think batgirl story is not that bad in term of story, its just sad that at that point, people are more interested with comparing what dc allegedly copying marvel dna plus director’s silly and foolish conduct which eventually cancel him own.