Michael Keaton recently told GQ he didn’t mind much when Warner Bros. dropped ‘Batgirl.’
The actor played Batman again with Leslie Grace as Batgirl. The studio canceled ‘Batgirl’ in August 2022 to save money. “No, I didn’t care one way or another. Big, fun, nice check,” Keaton said when asked if he felt let down by the film’s cancellation.
“I like those boys. They’re nice guys,” the actor noted about ‘Batgirl’ directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah. “I pull for them. I want them to succeed, and I think they felt very badly, and that made me feel bad. Me? I’m good.”
The film, which cost $90 million, was finished but still not released. The decision surprised many, and a tax incentive played a big role in it. ‘Batgirl’ was one of two big comic book movies where Keaton returned as Batman, a role he first played in 1989 and again in 1992.
The other movie, ‘The Flash,’ was released in July 2023 but didn’t do well, earning $271 million worldwide. Deadline reported that El Arbi and Fallah learned about the movie’s surprise cancellation just days after El Arbi’s wedding.
“The decision to not release ‘Batgirl’ reflects our leadership’s strategic shift as it relates to the DC universe and HBO Max. Leslie Grace is an incredibly talented actor and this decision is not a reflection of her performance,” A Warner Bros Picture spokesperson told The Independent at the time.
Keaton will star with Jenna Ortega in Tim Burton’s new ‘Beetlejuice’ movie this September. “There’s more of a connection for the audience in terms of the other characters,” the actor recently said. “There’s things in here that I wasn’t ready for, that are beyond delightful. Instead of saying, ‘I can’t wait until this thing shows up,’ or, ‘I just want this thing called Beetlejuice to go nuts.'”
‘Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’ will arrive in theaters on September 6. It’s a sequel to the first movie which came out in 1988.
