Adaptations of female comic book characters seem to be all the rage. Wonder Woman opened to big business last year for Warner Brothers with a sequel set for 2020. In the meantime, the studio has Birds Of Prey (Or The Fantabulous Emancipation Of One Harley Quinn), starring Margot Robbie reprising her Suicide Squad fan favorite character, goes in front of the cameras early next year. Meanwhile, Marvel is set to roll out Captain Marvel, starring Brie Larson, in just a few months, with the character expected to also play a key roll in Avengers 4 next May. And now comes word of another female-centric property that Warners is developing – Zatana.
For the uninitiated, Zatanna is magic user, who hides her true identity as a fighter of supernatural dangers by hiding in plain sight as it were posing as a world famous stage magician.She casts her spells by speaking backwards, so when she magically commands someone to “Stop talking!” she does it by intoning “Pots gniklat!” Created in 1964, Zatanna is one of DC Comics’ legacy heroes, the daughter of Giovanni “John” Zatara, who debuted in Action Comics #1 alongside Superman in June 1938.
The news comes somewhat buried in a Deadline story about the overall growth in female comic book character adaptations for both film and television.
There’s also been talk of films for Supergirl, Zatanna and Batgirl, while male-hero movies like the long-promised Flash solo film or a new Superman installment have lost momentum.
There is no further word as to any creative types who might be attached to a possible Zatanna film. Given the thoroughness of the piece in discussing other characters previously reported on as under development, it may be that the sudio has not yet found a writer or director to take on the project.
This is not the first time that Zatanna was eyed for a big screen adventure. She was one of the magic-based heroes that Guillermo Del Toro was assembling for his Justice League Dark film that is still under development at the studio, though there has been no word on the project for some time.
Zatanna did appear in animated form on a number of series including Batman: The Animated Series, Justice League: Unlimited and Young Justice. The character, portrayed by actress Serinda Swan, also made recurring appearances on the last three seasons of Smallville.
