Most expensive abandoned film

The most expensive abandoned film in Hollywood history is Batgirl (USA), which was produced by Warner Bros. with a budget of $90 million (£73 million). Filming officially wrapped on 31 March 2022, and the movie was in post-production when, on 3 August 2022, the studio announced that it would not be completing or releasing the film, and instead, writing it off as a loss for tax purposes.

The decision to cancel Batgirl was driven by the famously confusing and arcane world of entertainment industry accounting. Essentially, because Warner Bros. Entertainment had recently merged with Discovery, Inc., the newly reformed company was eligible for certain federal tax credits that would allow them to claim back some of the money they had lost from cancelling films.

Batgirl, along with Scoob! Holiday Haunt (budget of $40 million) and Coyote vs. Acme (budget of $70 million), had been commissioned as part of a business plan intended to drive the growth of Warner's streaming service, but with a shift in the company's priorities, the films were deemed more valuable as tax writedowns. Only Coyote vs. Acme may have won a reprieve, as public backlash led to Warner Bros. opening negotiations with other distributors. The others – following one-off "funeral screenings" for the cast and crew members – have been consigned to the company archives.