$70m down the drain? New 'Batgirl' movie scrapped
The new 'Batgirl' movie starring Dominican American actress Leslie Grace will not be coming to a screen near you.
Leslie Grace's fans won't get to see her in action in the new 'Batgirl' movie after Warner Bros officials announced that the film will not be released on HBO Max or theatrically.
The company has allegedly spent more than $70-million (R1,1-billion) making the DC Comics film.
According to The New York Post, screening tests conducted ahead of its expected 2022 release were not favourable. A source claimed that audiences who saw the movie gave it a poor rating.
"They think an unspeakable ‘Batgirl’ is going to be irredeemable,” the mole claimed.
The movie, which was in post-production already, was directed by Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah. The pair also helmed two episodes of Disney+'s new 'Ms. Marvel' series.
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Leslie, who some might recognise from 'In The Heights', was set to play Gotham City vigilante Barbara Gordon.
Despite rumours of 'Batgirl' being "irredeemable", officials say they scrapped the film due to several reasons, including a change in leadership following Warner Bros' merger with Discovery.
It seems the film no longer made financial sense.
J.K. Simmons, Brendan Fraser, and Michael Keaton also made appearances in the new 'Batgirl'.
Leslie told Variety in April what it felt like when she first put on the 'Batgirl' suit.
"I think that was the first real moment where I was like, “Oh, wow, we’re here. I’m doing this. Like, I am really Batgirl.” It’s still hard for me to say that. But, yeah, it was a surreal experience," she said.
Leslie was also hopeful for a sequel.
"I’ve seen some of what we’ve shot, obviously in the playback and stuff like that, and it’s insane. We’ve already been talking about where do we take this from here because there’s so much that happens in this film. There are a lot of different themes in the plot that we touch on. It’s not just the action."
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Main image credit: Instagram/@lesliegrace (Batgirl HBO Max/Warner Bros)