BATGIRL: DC Studios Boss Says Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah’s Unreleased Film Would Have Hurt the Company

Batgirl Film Was Not Releasable Despite High Profile Cast and Crew

Batgirl, which was directed by Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, would not have been releasable and would have hurt DC Studios, according to DC’s co-CEO, Peter Safran.

When directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah made Bad Boys for Life in 2020, they were crowned at the box-office with a smash hit that scored big numbers all around. Their latest big budget feature, Batgirl, won’t fare well at the box-office because it will most likely never be released in theaters or even stream at this particular point in time. The DC Studios co-CEO, Safran, spoke about the Batgirl project stating that it was simply a “small screen” quality production. It could have severely impacted DC had it been released, according to Safran.

Many people were excited at the prospect of seeing Brendan Fraser in the role of the villain in the picture–Firefly. Fraser is up for the Academy Award for his wonderful dramatic work this year in The Whale. He could have been one of the people Safran was thinking about when Safran suggested that the release of Batgirl could have impacted the talent who made it in a bad way. Batgirl, the character, could re-surface in another feature film. It will just not be in the one that El Arbi and Fallah were attached to.

Leslie Grace of the movie In the Heights was attached to play the lead role in Batgirl. It was stated in previous interviews that the decision to not release Batgirl had little or nothing to do with the quality of Grace’s performance. Michael Keaton of the Tim Burton Batman movies was also supposed to have a nice role in Batgirl so there’s disappointment all around in the shelving of the project.

While it may have been the decision to keep Batgirl out of the public spotlight, Brendan Fraser fans have taken to social media to congratulate the actor on his Academy Award nomination. It’s been a long ride for Fraser and some of his fans had hoped Fraser would have scored in his role as Firefly and made a major Hollywood comeback alongside his indie smash hit, The Whale. Still, the closing of the door on Fraser’s potential to become a big box-office draw again seems a little upsetting for now. What could help? If Fraser won the Oscar in March for his dramatic turn in the great picture, The Whale.

Safran hasn’t ruled out the studio working with some of the talent involved in Batgirl again on other projects. Though he had a conversation with Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, it is uncertain if anything is currently in the works but there is that potential regardless of the fiasco which was Batgirl, a movie which was ultimated deemed too small for movie theaters despite the towering presence of an actor (Fraser) who just may take home the gold for Best Actor this March. Hey, you can’t have it all but let’s hope the character of Batgirl can re-emerge in another upcoming DC studios picture.

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