Featured Image Credit: Kevin Smith/YouTube. Leslie Grace/Twitter.
Topics: Film and TV, Celebrity, DC Comics, Warner Bros, Batman
Jayden Collins
Topics: Film and TV, Celebrity, DC Comics, Warner Bros, Batman
Filmmaker Kevin Smith has hit out at Warner Bros.’ decision to axe Batgirl but push on with the release of The Flash.
The studio’s decision to can the release of the Leslie Grace-led film has been slammed by many, especially considering it was close to being finished and cost tens of millions of dollars.
It's especially confusing when you compare to how the movie studio is pressing ahead with The Flash despite the controversy surrounding Ezra Miller.
Kevin Smith appeared on the latest episode of his Hollywood Babble-On YouTube show to talk about the issue in Tinseltown.
He said: “It’s an incredibly bad look to cancel the Latina Batgirl movie.
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“I don’t give a s**t if the movie was absolute f***ing dog s**t – I guarantee you that it wasn’t. The two directors [Bilall Fallah and Adil El Arbi] who directed that movie did a couple of episodes of Ms. Marvel, and it was a wonderful f***ing show and they had more money to do Batgirl than they had to do an episode of Ms. Marvel.”
Earlier this month Warner Bros. confirmed the DC Comics film would not be getting a release date, essentially pouring $90 million (A$130m) down the drain.
Batgirl was being prepped for release on the streaming service HBO Max, and even was being considered for theatrical release at one point, however, has been completely dropped despite nearing film completion, according to The Wrap.
The film was reportedly dropped after it didn’t fly in test screenings, with the new Warner Bros. regime wanting DC Films to be known for big blockbuster films, and Batgirl simply wasn’t that.
However, Variety reports that tax write-off was also a leading reason behind the studio completely dropping the movie.
Smith had a hard time buying that Batgirl test screenings were a complete disaster, citing the budget as being better than a lot of their TV series.
He continued: “They said Batgirl looked too cheap because it was a $90 million movie. How do you make a cheap-looking $90 million movie? If it looked slightly better than an episode of Arrow then why couldn’t we see that?”
Meanwhile, Ezra Miller’s The Flash is steaming ahead for a theatrical release despite the film star being the centre of alleged abusive behaviour.
The 29-year-old has been alleged to have choked out a woman in a bar and harassed another woman in her home, whilst he was arrested twice in Hawaii for disorderly conduct, and then for second-degree assault, according to Variety.
He's also recently been charged for burglary in the US state of Vermont, with authorities accusing him of breaking into a home and stealing alcohol.
Kevin Smith made a point to point out the backwards decision to continue with the plan to release the movie.
He added: “That is the baffling thing. I don’t give a s**t how bad the Batgirl movie is, nobody in that movie is complicated or has anything in their real life you have to market around.
“In The Flash movie, we all know there’s a big problem! Flash is the Reverse-Flash in real life.”