Batgirl seemed like one of the most promising DC movies on their calendar–a $90 million movie with a hot IP, a strong cast and major studio involvement. Yet, it was notoriously scrapped while in the post-production stage, making it one of the biggest movies to ever suffer that fate. While a major disappointment to directors Bilall Fallah and Adil El Arbi, the almost unprecedented move from Warner Bros. Discovery– scrapping a potential box office champ– is at least historic. “This is something that never happened before, so we’ve kind of become part of movie history without even trying!”
Soon after the movie was scrapped, Warner Bros. Discovery issued a statement that read, in part, “We’re not going to launch a movie until it’s ready. We’re not going to launch a movie to make a quarter, and we’re not going to put a movie out unless we believe in it.”
And believe in Batgirl they did not. But Bilall Fallah and Adil El Arbi did, despite the disbelief of even being asked to helm the movie. “You’ve got to imagine,” said Arbi, “we’re two fanboys and for one second we were in the Batman universe, following in the footsteps of Zack Snyder and Christopher Nolan, and then it was just like we woke up and it was a dream!”
After the neck-snapping turn of events, the directors did at least get some comfort from colleagues. “There was so much support from people in the industry, it felt like all the artists were supporting us and that’s great feeling, because you feel like you’re not alone.”
The duo’s positivity over the Batgirl debacle is certainly commendable. And there don’t seem to be any hard feelings, as they said they would work with Warner Bros. again under one key condition: “that the movie comes out. I mean, if Warner says ‘Do you want to do the next Batman or Superman?,’ of course we’ll say yes. Just so long as the movie comes out!” Fair enough!
