Multiple movies that were previously greenlit have officially been shitcanned, for several reasons.
First up there’s the live-action Batgirl movie which has been completely “shelved”. The flick was gonna be a pretty huge deal as it served as a connector between HBO Max and the Extended DC Universe.
The movie, which cost AUD$101 million to make, was recently viewed by test audiences in anticipation of a late 2022 debut.
But sadly it was so poorly received by moviegoers that HBO Max decided to cut its losses and flee into the night, so to speak.
“They think an unspeakable Batgirl is going to be irredeemable,” a source told the New York Post.
“Those tests were said to be so poorly received by moviegoers that the studio decided to cut its losses and run, for the sake of the brand’s future,” the report read.
Meanwhile another source connected to the studio said the decision to scrap Batgirl was “not driven by the quality of the film or the commitment of the filmmakers, but by the desire for the studio’s slate of DC features to be at a blockbuster scale.”
Leslie Grace was set to play the titular role. (Credit: HBO Max)
The movie saw J.K. Simmons return as Commissioner James Gordon, a part he played in both versions of Justice League.
It also starred Michael Keaton, who played Batman in Tim Burton‘s Batman (1989) and Batman Returns (1992).
Beloved actor Brendan Fraser played Batman’s classic villain Firefly while Ivory Aquino played the transgender vigilante Alysia Yeoh.
It’s among the most expensive cinematic castoffs of all time.
The next flick to be axed is the follow-up to the animated sequel to 2020’s Scoob!.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, the film had a budget of around AUD$57 million.
Although no reason has been given for the cancellation of the sequel titled Scoob! Holiday Haunt, it has been speculated that the reason was similar to the ruthless plug-pulling of Batgirl.
The 2020 animated flick included the voices of Zac Efron, Amanda Seyfried, Gina Rodriguez and Mark Wahlburg.
And finally, the Tomb Raider sequel starring Alicia Vikander is also no longer happening, but for a different reason.
MGM, which produced the 2018 version, has lost the rights to Amazon, which will now be rebooting the Lara Croft story.
The news of these binned films comes after a slew of TV series were cancelled by a variety of networks from Netflix to The CW.
