Academy Award-winner Brendan Fraser has once again criticized Warner Bros.’s decision to cancel the fully-filmed “Batgirl” movie, decrying the move as a troubling sign of Hollywood’s financial priorities. In a recent interview with the Associated Press, Fraser, who was cast as the villain Firefly, lamented the industry trend of treating art as disposable “content.”
“The product— I’m sorry ‘content’—is being commodified to the extent that it’s more valuable to burn it down and get the insurance on it than to give it a shot in the marketplace,” Fraser stated. “I mean, with respect, we could blight itself.”
The actor highlighted the significant cultural losses resulting from the cancellation. He pointed to the “tragedy” of denying a generation of young girls a major superhero who reflects their identity, referring to Leslie Grace’s portrayal of the titular hero. “There’s a generation of little girls who don’t have a heroine to look up to and go, ‘She looks like me,'” he said. Fraser also noted the disappointment for fans who missed seeing Michael Keaton reprise his iconic role as Batman.
Directed by Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, “Batgirl” was set to be a key installment in the DC Extended Universe, also starring J.K. Simmons as Jim Gordon. Production took place in Scotland from November 2021 to March 2022, but in August 2022, Warner Bros. announced the completed film would be permanently shelved as a cost-cutting measure. No footage has ever been publicly released.
Recalling the project’s scale, Fraser remarked, “A whole movie. I mean, there were four floors of production in Glasgow. I was sneaking into the art department just to geek out.”
The prospect of “Batgirl” ever reaching audiences appears increasingly slim. Since the cancellation, the DC film division has been rebranded as DC Studios under the new leadership of James Gunn and Peter Safran, who are moving forward with a revamped creative slate.
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