[Nosferatu@Cult Labs]

Originally Posted by Susan Foreman

It would appear that Joss Whedon has pulled out of the 'Batgirl' film claiming he 'didn't have a story!'

'The Batgirl film I'd like to see' - BBC News

There now isn't a Batgirl film. The reasons given for completely pulling the movie, which has already cost over $60 million, vary from negative audience response at the test screenings to restructuring within Warner Bros.

I have read a couple of articles and think it's much more to do with the studio than the quality of the film.

From a long-ish at Deadline:

"There has been much speculation on why Batgirl was canceled, having to do with it being a bad movie. Sources said that the film tested once, and the result wasn’t that bad, considering that the cut had temporary visual effects which tend to temper audience enthusiasm in the scores. Already, the studio is discussing making different deals with the directors and Miss Bala star Grace, because this was not a reflection on their talent as much as the radical strategy shift. It was a hard decision for all and highly unusual to simply scrap a film that cost between $60 million and $70 million, made by the hot directors who helmed Black and the Disney+ series Ms. Marvel under Kevin Feige as well as the pre-pandemic $426M-plus grossing hit Bad Boys for Life .

Much of the decision came down to the following: Warner Bros Discovery boss David Zaslav rejecting of Kilar’s strategy to lean heavily into building streaming subscriptions for HBO Max. That was punctuated by his Project Popcorn initiative that put the entire 2021 theatrical slate — including Dune, Godzilla Vs Kong, King Richard, Matrix 4 — day and date in theaters and on HBO Max when theater attendance was sparse during the pandemic. Even after he was shown the door, Kilar continued to call the strategy a win. Many did not agree, particularly after Top Gun: Maverick waited and grossed north of $1.3 billion. It’s a decidedly different world from when Kilar made the move. Wall Street is no longer impressed by subscriber numbers as much as profits, as seen by the precipitous decline of Netflix’s stock value."

https://deadline.com/2022/08/batgirl...gy-1235084032/

I find it very difficult to believe that the creative team behind Ms. Marvel – probably the best MCU miniseries – made a film so dreadful and "irredeemable" that the studio couldn't release it for paying audiences.