Posted in: Batgirl, HBO, Movies, Warner Bros | Tagged: batgirl, hbo max, movies, Warner Bros
Batgirl Directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah Release A Statement
Warner Bros. is in the process of lighting itself on fire and then is acting surprised when people show up and start asking about the spectacle. In the last twenty-four hours, they have canceled two movies that were close to being finished, one of which had a budget rumored to be close to $100 million, quietly pulled six original movies from its service, including two movies it bought from another studio specifically for its service and another that was just released in March of 2022, forced a showrunner out onto social media to assure everyone that everything is fine for one of the big hits of their streaming service. Today some gossip came out that Warner Bros. was going to placate the talent behind Batgirl to play nice with bonuses, and directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah released a statement on their Instagram that was much more diplomatic than Paul Dini did when it came to Scoob! Holiday Haunts.
"We are saddened and shocked by the news. We still can't believe it. As directors, it is critical that our work be shown to audiences, and while the film was far from finished, we wish that fans all over the world would have had the opportunity to see and embrace the final film themselves. Maybe one day they will insha'Allah.
Our amazing cast and crew did a tremendous job and worked so hard to bring Batgirl to life. We are forever grateful to have been part of that team. It was a dream to work with such fantastic actors like Michael Keaton, J.K. Simmons, Brendan Fraser, Jacob Scipio, Corey Johnson, Rebecca Front and especially the great Leslie Grace, who portrayed Batgirl with so much passion, dedication and humanity.
In any case, as huge fans of Batman since we were little kids, it was a privilege and an honor to have been a part of the DCEU, even if it was for a brief moment. Batgirl For Life."
The Batgirl movie had a hard time getting to the big screen, which is saying something considering some of the DC projects that have struggled over the years. It was going to be brought to the big screen by Joss Whedon before it was widely reported that he was a terrible person and promptly left the project. The movie picked up some new directors last year in the form of Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, and it was supposed to be the first DC project to make its debut on HBO Max.
Back in July of last year, it was announced that Leslie Grace of In The Heights fame had snagged the coveted role of Barbara Gordon, aka Batgirl. We got some minor plot details for Batgirl during DC FanDome and a piece of concept art. Jacob Scipio, who was one of the stars of the much better than it had any right to be Bad Boys For Life, joined the cast in an unknown role. J.K. Simmons is also set to return as Commissioner Gordon. We learned that Brandon Fraser would play the villain at the end of October last year. Though we don't know the exact villain, the rumors said it might be Firefly. Production on the movie recently started at the end of last year, and Batgirl was supposed to release at some point this year.