Batgirl directors say they no longer have access to the canceled film's footage

Batgirl movie
(Image credit: Leslie Grace/Warner Bros.)

Batgirl directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah revealed they no longer have access to the film following Warner Bros.'s decision to cancel its release. In an interview with French entertainment channel SKRIPT, the duo shared their outlook on the fate of the film despite the shock cancellation.

When asked if they still had footage of the movie, Fallah revealed that Warner Bros. had blocked their access to the servers. "No, we have nothing," he explained. "Adil called me and said, 'Go ahead shoot some things on your cellphone.' I went on the server and everything was blocked."

"We were like 'fucking shit!'," El Arbi added. “All the scenes with Batman in them! Shit!”

While it was initially reported that the film was scrapped after being completed, the duo says that Batgirl could not be released in its current state: "There’s no VFX, we still had to shoot some scenes. So if [Warner Bros.] wanted us to release [Batgirl] they would need to give us the means to do it. To finish it properly with our vision."

Though the movie is trapped in seemingly indefinite limbo, the filmmakers are still hopeful that Batgirl will one day be released. "The guys from Warners told us, 'It was not a talent problem from our part or the actress, or even the quality of the movie,'" El Arbi told SKRIPT. "After all we make movies for the audience, not for us. We just hope that one day the movie will be released, for the cast and crew. We are a small family."

Added Fallah: "We hope, Inshallah, it will happen.”

For more, check out our list of the most exciting upcoming movies in 2022.

Lauren Milici
Senior Writer, Tv & Film

Lauren Milici is a Senior Entertainment Writer for GamesRadar+ currently based in the Midwest. She previously reported on breaking news for The Independent's Indy100 and created TV and film listicles for Ranker. Her work has been published in Fandom, Nerdist, Paste Magazine, Vulture, PopSugar, Fangoria, and more.