Warner Bros. and DC Films' plans for a line-up of female-led superhero movies reportedly included discussions of a movie about magician Zatanna Zatara. This is the first we've heard of a solo movie about Zatanna, though Warner Bros. has long had a team-up movie about Justice League Dark in development, and Zatanna is a prominent member of that team.
Just a few years ago, Warner Bros.' planned slate of DC movies was more heavily focused on male superheroes like Cyborg and the Flash. However, the enormous success of Wonder Woman changed things, with plans for a Man of Steel sequel put on ice and The Flash's solo movie suffering long delays while films like Gotham City Sirens and Birds of Prey were prioritized. There's been very little news about Justice League Dark since director Doug Liman exited the project in summer 2017, but interestingly it seems that Warner Bros. and DC Films discussed a solo movie for one of its members - which could still come to fruition.
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In a new Deadline feature on the surge of movies about superheroines - including next year's Captain Marvel and 2020 release Birds of Prey - there's a throwaway mention of Zatanna being given her own movie: "There’s also been talk of films for Supergirl, Zatanna and Batgirl." This is particularly interesting since the talks of a Supergirl movie have moved forward, with Warner Bros. reportedly dropping Man of Steel 2 in favor of focusing on Superman's cousin instead. Plans for a Batgirl movie have also solidified; though it suffered a setback after the departure of Joss Whedon as director, Batgirl recruited Birds of Prey writer Christina Hodson to pen a script earlier this year. It's unclear whether plans for a Zatanna movie have been dropped, or whether Warner Bros. is still ruminating on the project.
Zatanna Zatara has been around in the pages of DC Comics for more than half a century, and was created by Gardner Fox and Murphy Anderson. She's a stage magician with the costume to match, but also has actual magical superpowers, which makes her a good fit for the supernaturally-oriented Justice League Dark team. Fans of Smallville may remember Zatanna from the later seasons of the show, when she was played by Serinda Swan in a recurring role.
Warner Bros. has a frankly staggering number of DC projects currently in development, so the chances of a Zatanna solo movie being added to the slate and coming out in the near future are slim. That being said, a year ago the upcoming Joker solo movie starring Joaquin Phoenix was completely unheard-of, and now it's set to release before Wonder Woman 1984 - so it's hard to accurately predict what's being prioritized behind the scenes at DC Films, and what surprise new movie might be announced next.
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Source: Deadline
