Despite the many cancellations going on at Warner Bros. Discovery, the Black Canary movie is still in the works with Jurnee Smollett's Birds of Prey hero. August has been a controversial month for Warner Bros. Discovery, and only a few months after the completion of the merger. Last week, the new version of the studio made the shocking decision to cancel the Batgirl movie starring Leslie Grace. Despite having wrapped principal photography in late March, Warner Bros. Discovery made the decision to scrap it entirely, which has sent a shockwave through Hollywood.
WB's sudden decision has caused fans to speculate if other previously announced DC movies and even TV shows are still happening. One of those projects is the Black Canary movie, which, like Batgirl, is set to be an HBO Max original. Planned as a spinoff from Birds of Prey, Black Canary revolves around Jurnee Smollett's heroine Dinah Lance after the events of the 2020 movie. First announced in 2021, Black Canary is being written by Misha Green, who has collaborated with Smollett previously on Lovecraft Country.
With very brief updates throughout the year, Black Canary's fate has been in question. In a new report from TVLine, the site confirms that the spinoff movie is still in development, as a Warner Bros. Pictures spokesperson confirmed that Black Canary is going forward despite the many cancellations occurring lately with the studio. While Black Canary is still confirmed to happen, HBO Max nor Warner Bros. would disclose any potential release date window or when the movie may go into principal photography.
It's still understandable for fans and members of the press to be curious if something like Black Canary is still going forward. After Batgirl was canceled despite filming being finished, it did put a lot of other projects into question as anything could be getting scrapped behind the scenes. One DC series that was in the work for HBO Max was Strange Adventures, which was canceled according to Kevin Smith, who had co-written an episode for the drama. The Green Lantern TV show is still moving forward, and so far, nothing has been stated about the fate of the Blue Beetle movie, which was moved from HBO Max to a theatrical release.
The bigger question now about Black Canary is what other characters will star in the film and who will actually direct the DC picture. Given that Black Canary was one of the most well-received characters in Birds of Prey, it makes sense for the studio to go forward with it on HBO Max. In the comics, Dinah has always been one of the most popular Justice League characters, and it would be a waste for Warner Bros. not to use Smollett more in the DCEU, given the popularity of the Spiderhead star. Hopefully, with this confirmation that Black Canary is still a go, more news will begin to emerge in the coming months.