Birds of Prey (2020)

[Walts Ghost]

Warner Bros. is already proving to be ahead of the curve by having next year’s Wonder Woman serve as the first female-led superhero movie of the modern, post-Iron Man era, and now the studio has yet another female-centric superhero film in the works. Per THR, Warner Bros. is developing a film revolving around Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn character from the upcoming Suicide Squad, as well as a number of other female heroes and villains. So while Robbie’s Harley Quinn sounds like she’ll be the anchor for the feature, this may not exactly be a Harley Quinn movie per se.

Robbie is attached to star in and produce the picture, which is being kept under firm wraps as THR couldn’t even find out who’s penning the script beyond the revelation that the project has a female writer onboard. In addition to the villainous Harley Quinn, other characters are expected to get the spotlight, with Batgirl and Birds of Prey bandied about as possibilities.

Apparently Robbie was the impetus for getting this project off the ground, as she grew to love a number of DC characters during her comics research for the role of Harley Quinn. She found a writer and brought the project to Warner Bros., which immediately sparked to the idea of spinning off the Harley Quinn character into a female-centric DC Extended Universe film.

This is an incredibly smart move on Warner Bros.’ part, and is a mighty exciting project to boot. Robbie’s Quinn has been the highlight of the Suicide Squad trailers thus far, looking to fully embody the role of the psychiatrist turned Joker obsessive perfectly. Moreover, after the disappointment of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, the studio would do well to alter their long-held plans for the future in order to make some creative pivots. Signing Ben Affleck to direct and star in a standalone Batman movie was step one, and now getting this Harley Quinn project off the ground is yet another move in the right direction. If only they could also get a proper Superman sequel in development as well.

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Image via Warner Bros.

Suicide Squad marks the next entry in the DC Extended Universe, which technically began with Man of Steel but kicked off properly and fully with Batman v Superman. Next summer brings us Wonder Woman starring Gal Gadot, followed by the Zack Snyder-helmed Justice League movie. After that, the studio is also developing standalone The Flash and Aquaman films, but director Seth Grahame-Smith recently departed The Flash, signaling that WB is undergoing a bit of creative shuffling in the aftermath of BvS.

I wouldn’t be surprised if a Suicide Squad sequel also enters WB’s DC Extended Universe slate, as the film looks to be a blast and could end up a greater success than BvS. We’ll find out when Suicide Squad—and Robbie’s Harley Quinn—debuts on August 5.

http://collider.com/harley-quinn-movie-margot-robbie/