Peter Safran defends decision to scrap Batgirl movie

Peter Safran has defended the decision to shelve 'Batgirl'.

The 57-year-old film producer is working with James Gunn to oversee a new era for DC Studios and has backed the controversial choice made by Warner Bros. last summer to scrap the release of the superhero flick, which was set to star Leslie Grace in the lead role.

Peter - the co-chairperson and CEO of DC Studios - told Variety: "On the 'Batgirl' front, it's not about late in the process of the film getting cancelled. I saw the movie, and there are a lot of incredibly talented people in front of and behind the camera on the film.

"But that film was not releasable, and it happens sometimes. That film was not releasable. I actually think that (the CEO of Warner Bros. Discovery, David) Zaslav and the team made a very bold and courageous decision to cancel it because it would have hurt DC. It would have hurt those people involved."

The decision to shelve 'Batgirl' came before Peter took up his post at DC and he suggested that the studio would be willing to work directors Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah on another project that is more suited to the big screen.

He said: "I think that they really stood up to support DC. The characters, the story, the quality of all of that. I spoke to Adil and Bilall - the directors - last week, we were chatting. We'd love to be in business with all those folks."

Safran added: "As I said, a lot of talented people were involved, but the film was just not releasable. It would not have been able to compete in the theatrical marketplace; it was built for the small screen. So, again, I think it was not an easy decision, but they made the right decision by shelving it."