By Hey, remember that Birds of Prey movie that DC and Warner Bros. are supposed to be making? I certainly didn’t—I assumed it would be another DC Films project doomed in development hell. But it appears Hell is freezing over, and Birds of Prey is real, casting actresses Mary Elizabeth Winstead and Jurnee Smollett-Bell in this very real movie.
Winstead and Smollett-Bell will play DC characters Huntress and Black Canary, respectively. If you’ve read the comics, or if you’re like me and watched Justice League Unlimited instead, you’ll know that these two characters have quite the dynamic partnership. Cathy Yan is attached to direct, and Margot Robbie is supposed to reprise her Suicide Squad role as Harley Quinn.
It’s great to see so many female-led DC film projects in the works, with Supergirl and Batgirl being amongst them. It’s a shame that Warner Bros. has no idea what they’re doing, and I fear that these projects simply won’t materialize—Batgirl already lost Joss Whedon as a writer. That isn’t even mentioning the separate Jared Leto Joker and Harley Quinn movie (separate both from this project and the Joaquin Phoenix Joker movie) from directors Glenn Ficarra and John Requa (Crazy Stupid Love); the two were quoted in an interview saying that their project would be a combination of their previous work on Bad Santa and This is Us, which makes no sense at all.
Birds of Prey, which apparently is really going to exist, is scheduled for release on February 7, 2020.