With the DC Extended Universe supposedly walking into a new era with Black Adam releasing on October 21, 2022, thrill and excitement is surrounding the fans, especially since rumors about Henry Cavill’s Superman making a cameo in the movie have spread like wildfire. However, the step towards a new era comes with its own disappointments. Just like Leslie Grace’s Batgirl, the solo live-action film Zatanna has also met the same fate, along with a few other DC projects.
Also Read: DCEU Reportedly Developing Black Adam Spinoff Series on Hawkman
Zatanna Won’t Be Seeing Light of the Day
Warner Bros back in March 2021 announced the plans to create a solo live-action movie, based on the fan-favorite comic character Zatanna, the Mistress of Magic. However, in the following months, there was little to no update regarding the project. This led fans to speculate whether they would be getting a Zatanna-centric movie or not.
Recently, The Hollywood Reporter confirmed that the movie has, in fact, been canceled by Warner Bros. Discovery and HBO Max. Zatanna is not the only project to be axed by the board, a few other projects, along with one focused on Constantine, have also had the books close on them.
When the plans for Zatanna were made public, it was also stated that award-winning filmmaker Emerald Fennel would be joining the team as a writer. Fennel had also shown great interest in writing the superhero script, saying she was excited to do something new.
“It’ll be an opportunity to make something really quite dark and that appealed to me, to make something big and scary. I love that stuff.”
Needless to say, it comes as a shock that after being in development for almost two years, the movie was just erased from the face of the earth. It’s still unknown if the fans of the superhero universe will get to see Zatanna’s magic on the big screens, anytime soon.
Why Was Zatanna Cancelled?
Even though nothing can be said for certain as of now, there might be a few reasons behind the calling off of the movie, and the character’s recognition might be one of them. Since Zatanna is more on the mid-tier side of the comics, it is safe to assume that not many people know about her, unless they are hardcore comic book fans. Therefore, it is possible that the Warner Bros. didn’t think of it as profitable to launch a lesser-known character straight in a solo movie. Who knows, maybe the Mistress of Magic will make a cameo in one of the future DC projects.
Another reason could simply be that the DC Universe is not one known for its superheroes practicing magic. Therefore before a magic-centric movie is to be released, DC might have to lay down some groundwork for it.
Zatanna and the Constantine-centric project are both being handed to other streamers. Even though no other detail has been released yet, it would certainly be tragic if Zatanna was completely scrapped, especially given what Fennel could have done with the script.
Source: The Direct
