Kevin Smith isn’t thrilled Batgirl won’t play in theaters

Last Updated on August 2, 2021

The news that Bad Boys For Life helmers, Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, would be taking on a Batgirl movie for Warner Bros. was met with a mostly positive reception but there is one person who isn't too pleased about the film's method of release. Director and all-around comic book nerd, Kevin Smith, is happy that a Batgirl movie is coming but he thinks the property is far too big for a streaming-only release via HBO Max.

In the latest episode of his podcast Fatman Beyond, Smith made it abundantly clear that he thinks the decision to skip theaters for an HBO Max release is idiotic. While speaking to his co-host Marc Bernadin, Smith goes off on an expletive-filled rant that shows how passionate he is about his position:

“I have to call the mayor of Hollywood… What are you nuts! How is this just a streaming series and not a f***ing… Like, they got Wonder Woman. But I’m like, take Wonder, throw in Bat, take Woman off, put Girl, make the same amount of money. Like they could be printing big f*cking dollars. It’s a billion-dollar franchise if handled correctly. And you cast it right, oh sh*t… Look, there are wonderful streaming series. I’ll fight anybody who says Hacks isn’t one of the greatest f***ing series of all-time, now airing on HBO—and I’m not even a paid f***ing advocate. I’m just a big fan. But I would not have thought they would take Batgirl in this direction. Maybe a spinoff animated series sure, but that smells like a movie to me.”

Once Smith calmed down, he did cut his billion-dollar estimate for the franchise in half but his opinion remained the same. He thinks it's rather silly that the Batgirl movie is skipping theaters for streaming. The character, who made her first appearance 60 years ago, is described by Smith as "one of the most iconic female superheroes from the DC universe." This could very well be true. The character is at least known by people that don't even follow comic books and it is a property that has some box office potential. Warner Bros. had previously announced that some of their DC properties would get film releases that were suited for theatrical while others would go straight to streaming. The straight-to-streaming properties were meant for the "lesser-tier" characters that may not be as well known but still worthy of the live-action adaptation treatment.  I'm not sure I would consider Batgirl a "lesser-tier" character so I can see Smith's point a bit.

Do YOU think a Batgirl movie is worthy of a theatrical release or is streaming the right way to go?