Warner Bros. has budgeted its Suicide Squad spinoff Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) at $75 million, Vogue revealed in its cover story detailing a visit to the set of the Cathy Yan-directed DC Comics film.
This makes Birds of Prey the least expensive entry in Warner’s DC Extended Universe, coming in under Shazam! (reportedly $100 million), Wonder Woman ($150m), Aquaman ($160m), Suicide Squad ($175m), Man of Steel ($225m), Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice ($250m), and Justice League ($300m).
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Prey also marks the largest project for LuckyChap Entertainment, the five-year-old production company founded by producer and Harley Quinn star Margot Robbie. LuckyChap previously backed the Robbie-led I, Tonya and Terminal.
“Well, we’re on schedule and on budget,” Robbie told Vogue, “which is a wonderful place to be.”
Robbie’s efforts as producer have a long reach: her costumes in the female-centric Prey are described by Vogue as “more Sporty Spice than male fantasy,” something that happens “when you have a female producer, director, writer,” said costume designer Erin Benach (A Star Is Born).
“Yeah, it’s definitely less male gaze–y,” Robbie said.
And of Robbie, whose LuckyChap has nearly fifty projects in the works, the star-slash-producer “has an uncanny ability to focus on what’s happening in the moment, and when she needs to shift, she can so perfectly shift,” Benach said, adding the star has “a business mind.”
“God, I hope so,” Robbie said. “Or else this movie is going to fail!”
The Squad spinoff will follow Quinn, separated from abusive boyfriend the Joker (Jared Leto), as she teams with three heroes — Black Canary (Jurnee Smollett-Bell), Huntress (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), and Renee Montoya (Rosie Perez) — to save young Cassandra Cain (Ella Jay Basco) from twisted crime lord Black Mask (Ewan McGregor).
Warner Bros. has dated Birds of Prey for February 7, 2020.
