Warner Bros Discovery says 'Batgirl' cancellation controversy was blown out of proportion: 'Don’t think...'

The cancellation of the 'Batgirl' movie last month sent a wave of shock in Hollywood with one executive from a rival studio calling it "unprecedented". The film had Leslie Grace in the role of the titular superhero Barbara Gordon. Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah were the directors. The decision to axe a $90 million movie, which was reportedly almost finished, came under the new David Zaslav-led regime of Warner Bros Discovery, after the two companies -- WarnerMedia and Discovery -- merged. Zaslav has proven to be ruthless and has cancelled several other projects that were already in development. The film was supposed to mark a big comeback of Michael Keaton's Batman.

Brendan Fraser and JK Simmons were also in the cast as Firefly and Commissioner James Gordon. Zaslav has earlier said he has a 10-year plan for the DC film universe.

Also Read:‘Squid Game' actor Lee Jung-jae cast as lead of upcoming 'Star Wars' show 'The Acolytes'

Add WION as a Preferred Source

Now, Warner Bros. Discovery CFO Gunnar Wiedenfels has spoken about the decision. As per Variety, he said in a media interaction that it was blown out of proportion.

"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 — we’ll make them differently. Media likes to talk about media, I guess. 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. Clearly, the course corrections, making changes quickly where we don’t agree with the track that WarnerMedia was on, that took a lot of courage and execution early," he added.

After the cancellation, Grace shared her disappointment with the decision. She shared a statement on her Instagram profile. As a caption to several set photos and videos from the movie, she wrote, "Querida familia! On the heels of the recent news about our movie “Batgirl,” I am proud of the love, hard work and intention all of our incredible cast and tireless crew put into this film over 7 months in Scotland. I feel blessed to have worked among absolute greats and forged relationships for a lifetime in the process!"

She added, "To every Batgirl fan - THANK YOU for the love and belief, allowing me to take on the cape and become, as Babs said best, “my own damn hero!” #Batgirl for life! 🦇"