The superhero genre continues to be a powerful force in the entertainment industry, with various studios crafting their own cinematic universe. DC’s franchise had plenty of wild twists, both in front of the camera and behind the scenes. Case in point: the scrapped Batgirl movie, which was filmed but dropped by the studio. And Batgirl’s composer recently shared the “sad” detail regarding music, while reflecting on the DC movie getting scrapped.
When James Gunn and Peter Safran were named new co-CEOs of the DCU, they began forming a new shared universe based on the comics. This negatively affected a few upcoming DC movies that were filmed before the change of leadership, but Batgirl is the only project that was filmed and scrapped entirely. The cast and crew have expressed their disappointment in this call, and composer Natalie Holt recently spoke to THR about her experience on the Leslie Grace-led superhero flick. In her words:
Do you know what? I just haven’t listened back to it. So many things happened last year, and I needed a bit of time. I had some time this summer to reflect on where I want to go and also process the experiences I’ve been through creatively, but I haven’t really listened back to it yet. So ask me next year, maybe. (Laughs.) I’ve just put it away and it feels sad. I was really fond of that project, and I’d been working on it for a year with [directors] Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah. I also got to meet Danny Elfman, who gave me approval to work with his theme from Batman (1989). So it’s just sad, and I also really wanted to do a film. I haven’t really had a big film to work on yet, so hopefully that day will come soon.
Ouch. You can really tell how disappointed Holt and everyone from the Batgirl set is about the state of the movie. Clearly a ton of work and heart was put into the DC movie, and it’s unclear if we’ll ever get to actually see the footage, or hear any of the film’s music. Fingers crossed that something changes with Warner Bros. sometime down the line.
Natalie Holt’s comments show how strong her feelings are about Batgirl. And longtime DC fans might have a ping of FOMO, considering that the music would include Danny Elfman’s iconic Batman theme from the Tim Burton movies. Considering Michael Keaton reprised his role as Batman, that only seems appropriate. Now give us the footage, you cowards!
There was a ton of anticipation behind the Batgirl movie before it was announced that Warner Bros. was dropping it (and getting a huge tax refund in the process). In addition to Michael Keaton's Batman and Leslie Grace’s title character, the movie would have also included Brendan Fraser as the villainous Firefly.
The next DC movie hitting theaters is Aquaman 2 on December 20th. In the meantime, check out the 2023 movie release dates to plan your next movie experience.
