Michael Keaton “Didn't Care" ‘Batgirl' Was Shelved: “Big, Fun, Nice Check"

Michael Keaton was supposed to appear in “Batgirl,” which was shelved for tax write-off purposes by Warner Bros in 2023. Keaton is telling GQ that he “didn’t care” that “Batgirl” was scrapped. He’s moved on.

“No, I didn’t care one way or another. Big, fun, nice check,” Keaton said.

However, he added that he felt bad for co-directors El Arbi and Fallah (“Bad Boys: Ride or Die”), “I like those boys. They’re nice guys. I pull for them. I want them to succeed, and I think they felt very badly, and that made me feel bad.”

However, Keaton seems totally unfazed by the decision.

“Me?” Keaton said, with GQ noting that he shrugged. “I’m good.”

GQ notes that Keaton was also “rubbing his fingers together in the universal gesture for ‘moolah.'” Hilarious. He’s not the first actor to blatantly state that he appeared in a comic book movie just for the money.

The industry was stunned by Warner Bros’ total shelving of “Batgirl.” Was the movie that bad that it needed to be put in the Warner vault, never to be shown? Is it a cursed movie that kills you seven days after having seen it?

It turned out that the film’s shelving had to do with tax returns. Apparently, nixing the film would allow Warner Bros. to recoup a good chunk of the budget back.

The studio later leaked to the press that test screenings for “Batgirl” were poor. And yet, it was later revealed, per THR, that Batgirl’s test scores were comparable to those of the first “It” (2017), which wound up grossing $700.3 million globally.

Not that I really care for another superhero movie being released in theaters — the less, the better — but the “Batgirl” controversy fascinates me. It’s the kind of industry moment that could feasibly change things, and for the worse. Warner Bros would go on to shelve other films after that one, including, and most infamously, “Coyote Vs Acme.”