Black Canary: Warner Bros. Discovery CEO Teases Fate of HBO Max Exclusive Movies
The DC Universe is at an interesting turning point, thanks to the merger of Warner Bros. Discovery and the hiring of James Gunn and Peter Safran as co-CEOs of DC Studios. There's been a lot of speculation about what movies and HBO Max-exclusive television shows will come to fruition in this new era, both introducing new characters and following the adventures of established ones. Among them is Black Canary, a proposed HBO Max-exclusive spinoff movie focusing on Jurnee Smollett's Dinah Lance / Black Canary, who first debuted in 2020's Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn). After Warner Bros. Discovery shelved its Batgirl HBO Max movie earlier this year, reports still indicated that Black Canary remained in development for the streaming service — but new comments from Warner Bros. Discovery CEO David Zaslav might throw a wrinkle into that. During Warner Bros. Discovery's Q3 earnings call on Thursday, Zaslav reiterated that the company does not plan to make movies exclusively for HBO Max.
"We learned what doesn't work," Zaslav explained. "And this is what doesn't work for us based on everything that we've seen: direct-to-streaming movies. So spending a billion dollars or collapsing a motion picture window into a streaming service. The movies that we launch in theater do significantly better, and launching a 2-hour, 40-minute movie direct to streaming has done nothing for HBO Max in terms of viewership, retention or love of the service."
What does this mean for Black Canary?
If Warner Bros. Discovery and DC Studios does not want to make Black Canary exclusively for HBO Max, a few options remain. There is the chance that the movie could be reworked to move to theaters, a shift that already happened with next year's Blue Beetle movie. There's also the chance that the movie could be reworked into an HBO Max-exclusive series — something that fans of the character were already campaigning for in recent years, and that DC Studios seems to be prioritizing with shows like Peacemaker and The Penguin. Unfortunately, the third option is that the project could end up getting shelved, similarly to what happened to Batgirl.
Black Canary would star Smollett as the titular hero, who fights crime with the help of her martial arts skills and high-powered sonic cry. The film is being written by Misha Green, Smollett's collaborator on Underground and Lovecraft Country.
What do you think of Zaslav's new comments? Do you hope that DC's Black Canary movie still happens? Share your thoughts with us in the comments below!