The doors at Warner Bros. Discovery remain open for Batgirl directors Bilall Fallah & Adil El Arbi, and there’s a slim possibility it could be for a Batman Beyond project. The two filmmakers were recently at the Red Sea Film Festival in Jeddah to promote their latest movie, Rebel – where the duo creatives also made their intentions clear about taking another dive into the superhero genre, specifically the Batman universe.
As anyone following the day-to-day happenings in the film industry would be aware, Bilall Fallah & Adil El Arbi were at the center of the spotlight during Warner Bros. and Discovery’s post-merger business strategy, which involved the cancellation of HBO Max’s Batgirl movie.
The 90$ million feature was axed without the directors’ knowledge during post-production and the unprecedented move sent shockwaves across the biz industry, even damaging Warner Bros. film’s brand image, to a point. The movie had a funeral screening, which the directors were not a part of, and that was the last time the Batgirl project was discussed among insiders.
Fast forward to the present, the duo helmers are still interested in making a feature for Warner Bros. but under one condition, “that the movie comes out. I mean, if Warner says ‘do you want to do the next Batman or Superman?,’ of course we’ll say yes. Just so long as the movie comes out!,” said Fallah to THR. And that brings us to his co-helmer’s recent cryptic post on Batman Beyond.
While DCU fans were busy during the weekend watching CCXP’s announcements and WBD’s surprise panel for Blue Beetle – El Arbi shared an artwork featuring Terry McGinnis’ Batman on his Instagram. The image still caught many fans’ attention, some speculating the duo could be in talks with DC Studios boss James Gunn for a potential project.
Batgirl concept art/Warner Bros.
“You know, maybe in the future … when Batman is not being made by Matt Reeves … Batman Beyond is really super cool. And I just saw that and thought that’s really badass,” says Arbi. “So who knows? Maybe in the future one day if they ask us to do that, we will not say no. But you can dream right!”
Aside from the Batman Beyond tease, the Batgirl directors have a meeting with DC Studios CEO James Gunn, revealed Arbi
Though its exciting to hear Arbi holding his hope over directing a potential Batman Beyond feature, it’s improbable to think the studio would greenlight another Batman while its main mission lies in providing an experience that does not confuse moviegoers, especially with three iterations of the caped crusader, Ben Affleck, Robert Pattinson and the latest revived, Michael Keaton’s Batman from the burtonverse, all set to return in future films.
Batgirl Director, Adil El Arbi, shared on Instagram some Batman Beyond fan art by artist WeeArts 🦇 pic.twitter.com/YwX7QyC4th
— Batgirl Film News 🦇 (@BatgirlFilm) December 3, 2022
WBD’s boss David Zaslav has clarified that the future won’t have multiple batmans. So it makes sense Arbi dreams to make a Batman Beyond after the conclusion of Matt Reeves’ universe. However, the real question should be, what would Gunn think? The Suicide Squad director was one of the first artists in the industry to reach out and offer condolences over the Batgirl movie’s cancellation. But since then, Gunn’s purview has expanded to become the DCU architect.
Surprisingly, the duo would soon be in the same room as the DC Studios CEO for a formal discussion, “the meetings are in the books,” said Arbi. With Gunn busy “making plans” for the DC Bible, the timing could not be better.
It should be noted that Warner Bros. film CEOs Michael de Luca and Pam Abdy were interested in offering either the Batgirl role or another picture deal for the canceled DC Film’s titular star Leslie Grace, to mend fences. Perhaps, that option could apply to the directors as well.
For those unaware, Batman Beyond is an animated series that debuted in 1999 and ended in 2001. It takes place in a futuristic world, set in 2039 where an old Bruce Wayne has retired from his crime-fighting days. While members from the veteran rogue gallery were either dead or retired like the Dark Knight – a new generation of thugs had begun causing chaos in the city but McGinnis takes on the cowl, donning a hi-tech batsuit and continues in Wayne’s footstep under his guidance from the Batcave.
What did you think of Adil El Arbi’s Batman Beyond tweet? Let us know in the comments below or you can reach out to writer @RAKarthikPrasad to discuss all things Batman and DCU.
