Warner Bros. Discovery has had a rough go of things over the past couple of years, particularly with regard to the movies in the DC Extended Universe and its other standalone DC properties. This disappointment came to a head when the company decided to cancel the upcoming release of Batgirl for a tax write-up, upsetting a huge sect of the DC fandom along with the actors and crew that worked to bring the movie to life.
While leaked video has shown off some of what fans could have expected to see from an action standpoint, Batgirl is highly unlikely to release to the public in any form, leaving fans questioning how this movie would have added to the DCEU. Throw this cancellation into the equation alongside the company's other big decisions, and it leaves the future of the DC universe in question as the superhero genre becomes more competitive by the year.
Throughout Batgirl's time in the news stream, part of what left its debut so uneasy during production was that it didn't even have a release date, although reports indicated that it was set to arrive on HBO Max sometime in 2023.
Now, that's been confirmed thanks to a new report concerning one of Warner Bros.' other upcoming movie debuts.
Batgirl's Likely HBO Max Release Date Revealed?
Deadline shared that Lionsgate is set to release Sylvester Stallone's Expendables 4 on September 22, putting itself "against an untitled Warner Bros DC movie" on that same release date.
According to a tweet from insider KC Walsh, that untitled DC movie would have actually been Batgirl had it not been canceled. He reiterated how studios plan out their release dates "years in advance" and that there's no way anything from DC and Warner Bros. could be produced and released by that time right now:
"Do people not know Studios grab dates years in advance so vendors know what’s coming
This was for Batgirl, they aren’t putting out 5 dc films next year and they especially didn’t film a movie you don’t know about."
More Disappointing Batgirl News Unveiled
2023 is already set to bring a couple of big DC releases, even after multiple delays forced fans to wait for the DCEU to continue on the big screen. Jason Momoa's Aquaman sequel will come as a Christmas release while Ezra Miller's The Flash remains in its June 23 slot, meaning Batgirl would have come in between those two in its own HBO Max run.
In the end, this will now be an unutilized release slot for Warner Bros. as the company works to figure out what its ultimate plan is for the DC Extended Universe.
This plan almost certainly won't include Leslie Grace and Michael Keaton's work on Batgirl, with no plans to let the footage out into the public for the foreseeable future. And with the company's entire release strategy still being reworked thanks to management expecting more theatrical releases, things could look quite different for the entire company and its superhero franchises moving forward.
