We’re in a strange time when it comes to upcoming DC movies. While there are only a handful of months to go until Black Adam and Shazam! Fury of the Gods hit theaters, last week brought the shocking news that Warner Bros. Discovery decided to scrap Batgirl. This has led to many fans worrying if other DC projects are on the chopping block, including the Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) spinoff Black Canary, which features Jurnee Smollett reprising the title character. Now Warner Bros. Pictures has addressed where things stand with this particular superhero movie.
Like Batgirl once was, Black Canary has been set up as an HBO Max movie rather than a theatrical release. We learned that Black Canary was on the way almost a full year ago, and for those of you who’ve been looking forward to this project, good news: it hasn’t been shelved. A spokesperson for Warner Bros. Pictures informed TV Line that Black Canary remains in development at HBO Max. There’s still no specific timetable on when Black Canary will start filming, let alone be released, but at least it’s clarified to still be in the works, just like HBO Max’s live-action Green Lantern series.
When we met Jurnee Smollett’s Dinah Lance in Birds of Prey, she was a singer at the nightclub belonging to Ewan McGregor’s Roman Sionis, a.k.a. Black Mask, which is where she met Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn. Dinah also inherited the genetic ability to sonic scream from her late mother, but rather than use her power to protect the innocent, she became largely withdrawn from society. However, events unfolded in Birds of Prey that led Dinah to team up with Harley, Mary Elizabeth Winstead’s Helena Bertinelli/Huntress, Rosie Perez’s Renee Montoya and Ella Jay Basco’s Cassandra Cain to take down Black Mask. By the end of the movie, Dinah, Helena and Renee decided to form the title team of heroines.
Along with Jurnee Smollett’s Dinah Lance jumping back into action, the Black Canary spinoff is being written by Misha Green, with the two having previously crossed professional paths on the TV shows Underground and Lovecraft Country. Back in May, Green said that she was still working on the script, and Smollett has said that the move will delve more into Dinah’s backstory and show off the character’s martial arts skills. When Batgirl was being shot, set photos showed there would have been visual references to Black Canary, but now we’ll obviously never see those within a finished product.
CinemaBlend will continue sharing updates on Black Canary’s progress, including if it ends up being shifted to a theatrical release (just like what happened with Blue Beetle), as well as any major changes that emerge from Warner Bros. Discovery’s new 10-year plan for DC Films.
