HBO Max has pulled the plug Zatanna. Last year it was announced that Emerald Fennell (Promising young woman) was tapped to write the screenplay for a Zatanna amendment. Fennell later teased the dark story she had in mind for the film as she talked about the project with Empire last summer.
“There are a lot of things about her that felt like they could be very, very interesting,” Fennell said. “And it’s going to be a chance to make something really dark. And that appealed to me, to make something big and scary. I love that stuff.
While working on a high-budget superhero project, the filmmaker added: “The scale of [these movies] is so huge and so exciting. Like, why wouldn’t you want to write something like that when you can write huge, massive, crazy sequences and fights? Normally you think how can I show this in the smallest cheapest way [laughs]? It’s so wonderful to have complete freedom to let your imagination run wild.”
Unfortunately, it is now known that Zatanna has endured a major setback. There had been speculation that the future of the adaptation was in jeopardy after the cancellation of batgirl, another DC movie that even finished filming before it was surprisingly scrapped. However, according to a new report from THR outlining future plans at Warner Bros. Discovery for the DCEU has been revealed that: Zatanna has been deleted along with the planned Constantine series separate from the upcoming Keanu Reeves sequel. Both projects are now said to be shopped to other streaming platforms, so it’s still possible that one or the other will find a new home elsewhere, though it’s just as likely that both will end.
Zatanna’s movie has been a long time coming, but will it really happen?
The Zatanna character was created by Gardner Fox and Murphy Anderson and first appeared in an issue of hawkman in 1964. Although she has a day job as a stage magician, Zatanna has truly mystical powers that she uses to fight crime. In the comics, she has fought against bad guys alongside the Justice League and Justice League Dark.
When it comes to customizations, Zatanna has appeared in DC animated projects. In live-action, a version of Zatanna appeared in smallville played by Serinda Swan. However, she has yet to make her live-action DCEU debut. At one point, it was reported that Guillermo del Toro wanted to use her for a… Justice League Dark project that never came to fruition, and there were rumors (which were later debunked) that James Gunn would record her in The Suicide Squad. Anyway with the Zatanna movie is being shopped, fans can still hope that the movie will eventually take place after all.
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