Batgirl would have ‘hurt’ DC universe, says new DCU Studios head

DC has announced its latest slate of movies and shows, but there are still plenty of questions swirling around Warner Bros.’ recent cancelation of BatgirlA movie called. During DC’s announcement event on Monday, co-chairperson of DC Studios Peter Safran took some time to address these questions and shed a little more light on what went into shelving Batgirl It was his decision.

Safran claims that despite the late-stage cancellation, the release was still possible. Batgirl It would only have caused more harm than good to the DCU.

“On the Batgirl front, it’s not about late in the process of the film getting canceled,” Safran explained during the event, as reported by Variety. “I saw the movie, and there are a lot of incredibly talented people in front of and behind the camera on that film. It happens occasionally, but that film wasn’t releasable. The film was never releasable. Actually, I believe that [president and CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery David]Zaslav and the team were bold enough to decide that it should be cancelled because DC would have suffered. It would have hurt those people involved.”

Safran said that the problem with the movie was partly that it was initially intended to be a direct-to HBO-Max movie. This made it feel a bit small for Warner Bros’ shifting theatrically-focused release plans. Discovery was proud to present its roster of superhero movies.

“It would not have been able to compete in the theatrical marketplace,” Safran said. “It was built for the small screen. So, again, I think it was not an easy decision, but they made the right decision by shelving it.”

Safran said that the main reason the project would fail is because of that. Batgirl is sure to feature into the plans that he and co-chair James Gunn have for the larger Batman franchise, particularly with DC’s upcoming Bold and Bravefilm, that introduces the Batfamily into the new DCU.

Safran and Gunn’s new DCU will kick off with a lineup of 10 interconnected projects that will make up the first chapter of the new universe. As part of the DCU, the first film to be released will be Superman: LegacyGunn has written the film titled “Dark Knight Rises”, which will show the Krytoponian heroes in a new light and give viewers a glimpse into the DC universe.