Reel Facts & Opinions: BATGIRL Joins a Club

Shockwaves were sent through the cinema world last week, when Warner Bros. announced they were scrapping their BATGIRL film. The adaptation of the popular DC Comics character, which had completed filming (but not quite the editing or post-production), will not see a release on the big screen, small screen, or any screen in-between. With the popularity of superhero movies, and the easy access of streaming, the scrapping of the film is a real head-scratcher, worthy of debate, and another entry into an exclusive club of Cancelled Movies. 

 

There is a lot that goes into making a film. Things like budgets, logistics, and creative differences barely began to cover it all. BATGIRL was cancelled for a milkshake of official and un-official reasons, ranging from a change in studio direction, the movie being bad and unsalvageable, all the way to nutball conspiracy theories saying the move was just a ruse to drum up publicity. 

 

Either way, BATGIRL for now has become a Cancelled, or Abandoned Film that has some interesting and impressive company (quick note: there is a big difference between a cancelled film that is actually shot and half-edited, and a film that never sees the front of a camera): Way back in 1922, famed director Alfred Hitchcock had his very first feature film, called NUMBER 13, cancelled when the budget collapsed with only a few scenes shot. Today that footage is highly sought after by collectors and film historians…without success. In 1937, Oscar-nominated director Josef von Sternberg was filming his historical epic I, CLAUDIUS (starring Charles Laughton), when a serious car accident resulted in filming ending before completion. Footage from the film was later used in a 1965 documentary called THE EPIC THAT NEVER WAS. 

 

Other examples are littered through history. The 1972 martial-arts film GAME OF DEATH was never completed as intended, due to the death of star Bruce Lee. The film would appear in different versions over the years. In 1975, Mike Nichols clashed with actor Robert DeNiro during filming of BOGART SLEPT HERE, and the film was scrapped and later rearranged into THE GOODBYE GIRL (1977). In 1988, stand-up comedian Sam Kinison was starring in the comedy ATUK and started demanding rewrites. The film was shut down after one scene was shot. And in 2006, a remake of REVENGE OF THE NERDS was axed after two weeks of filming, after officials at Emory University (where the film was being shot), read the script and objected. 

 

Some other infamous scrapped films include the late great Jerry Lewis’ 1972 drama THE DAY THE CLOWN CRIED, which told the story of a clown entertaining kids in a Nazi concentration camp. The film was shot, but never released. And getting back to superheroes, in 1994 the adaptation of Marvel’s THE FANTASTIC FOUR was filmed, edited, but never released. It would later be revealed that the film was never intended to see the light of day, and was only done for the parent studio to retain the rights to the characters. 

 

Where does all that leave BATGIRL? For now, still on the shelf. But one thing many of these cancelled films have had in common is that the footage eventually appeared in one form or another. With streaming such an easy option and theatres very much needing content in the last few months of the year (not to mention very vocal fans), there is a slight (ever so slight), chance of BATGIRL seeing some sort of screen. If not, then BATGIRL becomes cinema that never was.