Following the announcement of the Batgirl movie being shelved the directors of Batgirl said they were “shocked” that the US$90 million superhero film had been axed by the studio and will now not be released in any format.

 “We are saddened and shocked by the news. We still can’t believe it,” directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah wrote on Instagram. “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.”

Warner Bros Discovery announced they were shelving the movie adaptation of the DC Comics character, which was to star Leslie Grace in the title role, alongside Michael Keaton as Batman, preventing it from being seen in either theatres or on streaming platforms HBO Max.

The movie had completed principal photography and much of the post-production work where special effects, sound and graphics are added was also done.

Star Grace (In the Heights) had told interviewers how excited she was to have landed the role, and how thrilled she was to be working with Keaton and other luminaries. Her efforts were applauded by El Arbi and Fallah, who described themselves as “huge fans of Batman since we were little kids”.

The move sent shock waves through Hollywood, where industry veterans said it was unprecedented for a movie to be so close to completion and with so much money already spent and not be released. Batgirl appears to have fallen victim to a change in corporate strategy after a merger between Warner Bros and Discovery.

Variety said the US$90 million hole this would leave in the studio’s balance sheet would probably be dealt with via a tax write-down – a process where companies reduce their exposure to tax by subtracting losses from their profits.

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