Warner Bros. will release Margot Robbie’s female superhero team-up film “Birds of Prey” on Feb. 7, 2020, the studio announced Monday. Film will also be shown in IMAX.
Robbie will reprise her “Suicide Squad” character, Harley Quinn as well produce alongside Kroll & Co Entertainment’s Sue Kroll and Clubhouse Pictures’ Bryan Unkeless. The film follows the adventures of a revolving group of female heroes and villains, and is based on the DC Comics characters and concepts created by Jordan B. Gorfinkel and Chuck Dixon.
A second round of actresses will test this week for leading roles, among them, Black Canary and Helena Bertinelli.
Originally created by writer Robert Kanigher and artist Carmine Infantino in 1947, Black Canary/Dinah Laurel is a hand-to-hand combatant from a family of crime fighters. Her father, Larry Lance, was a police officer, while her mother (also named Dinah) was the original Black Canary. Since the 1960s, she’s most commonly been associated with the hero Green Arrow, and has been featured heavily on The CW’s “Arrow,” where she was played for several seasons by Katie Cassidy. A new version of Black Canary is currently played on the TV series by Juliana Harkavy.
Created by writer Joey Cavalieri and artist Joe Staton in 1989, Helena Bertinelli is the third DC Comics character to use the name Huntress. Once a mafia princess whose family was killed in a mob hit, she eventually becomes a vigilante bent on taking down the mob in the name of justice. Operating out of Gotham City, she’s typically an uneasy ally of Batman, and even briefly operated as Batgirl. She was a recurring character on The CW’s “Arrow,” played by Jessica De Gouw.
In addition, TheWrap exclusively learned exclusively that the villain in “Birds of Prey” will be Black Mask, one of Batman’s foes who has never before appeared on the big screen.
Cathy Yan is set to direct. Yan is best known for writing and directing her feature debut “Dead Pigs,” which took home the World Cinema Dramatic Award for Ensemble Acting at Sundance earlier this year.
Christina Hodson wrote the “Birds of Prey” spinoff for Warner Bros. and DC Films. Hodson is also writing “Batgirl” for DC.