Black Canary 'Birds of Prey' Spinoff Movie Still in the Works at HBO Max Despite 'Batgirl' Cancellation
Although Batgirl is no longer in the works, Warner Bros. Discovery is still moving ahead with a Black Canary movie for HBO Max. The character will be played by Jurnee Smollett, who made her first appearance as Dinah Lance in the 2019 Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn movie. Misha Green, who worked with Smollett on HBO's Lovecraft Country and WGN America's Underground, is writing the Black Canary movie.
A Warner Bros. Pictures spokesperson told TVLine Tuesday the Black Canary solo movie is still in the works, even though Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav is moving away from making movies specifically for a streaming platform. However, there is no word on how far along the project is. The Black Canary movie was officially announced in August 2021, when Green and Smollett confirmed reports on social media.
"Guess the Canary is out of the cage! So excited to finally embark on this adventure with my creative soul sis [Green]," Smollett wrote on Aug. 20. "We're just at the very beginning of a loooong journey to the screen, but obvs I couldn't turn down the chance to put the DAMN in The Black Damn Canary with [Smollett]," Green tweeted the same day.
Last week, Warner Bros. Discovery shocked Hollywood by shelving Batgirl, even though the film was already shot. The company is reportedly taking a tax write-off on the $90 million movie instead of giving it a streaming release or investing more into making it a theatrical release. Warner Bros. Discovery also pulled the plug on Scoob! Holiday Haunt and the House Party reboot that was supposed to be released in July never surfaced.
"We're not going to launch your movie until it's ready," Zaslav said during the Warner Bros. Discovery earnings call on Aug. 4. "We're not going to launch a movie to make a quota. And we're not going to put a movie out unless we believe in it. Particularly with DC, where we think we want to pivot and we want to elevate and we want to focus." He said the company's job is to "protect the DC brand," which was what they believe they did by canceling Batgirl.
Batgirl never had a firm release date, but it was thought to be coming before the end of the year. The character has had close ties with Black Canary, as they were both members of the original Birds of Prey team in the comics. There were rumors last year that Batgirl would have narrative ties to Black Canary, notes ComicBook.com. Photos from the Batgirl set revealed references to Black Canary's concerts.
The original Black Canary, Dinah Drake, was introduced in 1946. Her daughter, Dinah Laurel Lance, was introduced in 1969 and is the most frequently used version of the character. Black Canary's superpower is her Canary Cry scream and she has been portrayed as a singer outside of her superhero duties. Kate Cassidy played a version of the character on Arrow.