Batgirl cancellation was ‘blown out of proportion’ by media, Warner Bros Discovery CFO says

‘Media likes to talk about the media, I guess’

Backlash over the decision to shelve Leslie Grace film Batgirl was “blown out of propotion”, according to a top executive at Warner Bros Discovery.

The company’s chief financial officer Gunnar Wiedenfels addressed the studio’s decision to cancel the $90m Warner Bros/DC film – and the outrage over it – on Thursday (8 September) at the Bank of America Securities Media, Communications & Entertainment Conference.

He said: “To me, you know, it’s blown out of proportion a little bit, in terms of the attention externally.

“The focus is, on a go-forward basis here, we’re spending more than ever in the history of the two legacy companies on content. We’re continuing to make significant investments – [but] we’ll make them differently.”

In August, it was announced that the film would not release theatrically, on HBO Max, or anywhere else, owing to a “strategic shift” among leadership at the studio.

“The decision to not release Batgirl reflects our leadership’s strategic shift as it relates to the DC universe and HBO Max,” a Warner Bros Picture spokesperson said. “Leslie Grace is an incredibly talented actor and this decision is not a reflection of her performance.”

According to media reports, the film, which would’ve also marked Michael Keaton’s return as the Caped Crusader, was scrapped due to a ballooning budget of more than $100m (£81.9m) as well as negative test screenings.

The Wrap claimed that Warner Bros Discovery bosses, led by David Zaslav, felt that Batgirl wasn’t the theatrical event film they would like their DC films to be as it had been made for a streaming sevice.

On Thursday, Wiedenfels addressed the coverage around the film’s cancellation by saying: “Media likes to talk about media, I guess.”

On the film’s eventual fate, he added: “I don’t think it is unusual. We are a creative industry and one of the elements of creativity is that there is judgment and views on what the potential of what a certain piece of [intellectual property] might be.”

Reacting to the news that Batgirl would not be released, Dominican-American actor Grace, 27, said she was “proud of the love, hard work and intention all of our incredible cast and tireless crew put into this film over seven months in Scotland”.

The In The Heights star also thanked all her fans “for the love and belief, allowing me to take on the cape and become, as Babs said best, ‘my own damn hero”.

Directing duo Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah said they were “saddened and shocked by the news”.