Batgirl Incorporated: Cancelled Films, Corporate Strategy and Questions of Quality

This chapter will look to explore these differing reactions to an unproduced film such as The Night Creatures – which only existed in script form and, as Hutchings asserts, are often deified as the idealized version of what that project could be – and films cancelled during or after filming (for the rest of the chapter, these kind of projects will simply be referred to as ‘cancelled’ projects), such as Batgirl, where questions surrounding quality and the film’s overall worth, or lack thereof, are often foregrounded in conversations surrounding the project. Unmade films and cancelled films of course share one key similarity; that they are never likely to be seen by audiences. However, after this the reactions to and perceptions of these projects can diverge wildly. This chapter takes Batgirl as its key case study, examining the project’s history and eventual termination, as well as the reaction to the film’s cancellation, and contextualizing it with other unmade or cancelled projects within the comic-book film genre.

Keywords: Archives ; Film history ; Television history ; Unmade film ; Unmade television ; Unproduction ; Unreleased film ; Unseen film