Weeks after canceling Batgirl, Warner Bros. Discovery has reportedly held screenings of the film on the studio lot. The news comes courtesy of The Hollywood Reporter, with the outlet reporting that the secret screenings were for people who worked on the film, both cast and crew, as well as representatives and executives. According to the outlet, many have referred to the screenings as “funeral screenings,” held before the film is ultimately locked away forever.
News of the screenings comes days after directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah revealed they no longer had access to the film. After trying to recover some of the footage from the canceled film, the duo found that everything had been removed from the server. At the time, it was thought the studio had already deleted all footage from Batgirl, that appears to not be the case, though. It’s thought that Warner Bros. Discovery might actually opt to destroy all footage from Batgirl in order to prove to the IRS that the studio will never receive any revenue from the film following the requested tax write-off. Of course, there’s also the potential that the studio will just decide to lock the footage away in a vault, much like with the canceled Game of Thrones spinoff pilot, Bloodmoon.
In recent weeks, many have speculated whether or not Batgirl could be reborn ala Zack Snyder’s Justice League. However, the latter’s original footage was still accessible by the director after he departed the film due to a personal tragedy. With El Arbi and Fallah no longer having access to their footage, and the film being a tax write-off, that seems incredibly unlikely.
Source: THR.
