An actual headline about Joker, which comes out this Friday: “Joker spurs security precautions from the U.S. Army and police.” Another: “Select theaters ban face masks and costumes amid Joker screening security concerns.” Escapism, Joker is not, unlike another a movie based on a DC Comics character. Whereas the Clown Prince of Crime’s solo movie is concerned with self-earnest importance, Harley Quinn’s Birds of Prey looks like a blast. It’s right there in the full, “not very serious” title, Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn), and the delightful posters that DC and Warner Bros. have been rolling out. Is there a hyena wearing a pink collar? You bet!
“Breaking hearts and faces,” another Instagram caption teases.
And two more, with Harley as a literal gumshoe and a crushed car.
Harley seems to be taking her time away from the Joker well. She’s even trying to get the upper-hand in the breakup (in my mind, Margot Robbie threw one of Jared Leto’s dead rats in his face and walked out on him): the first trailer for Birds of Prey premieres tomorrow, October 1, before the hyena-free Joker hits theaters. Stay tuned for that.
Directed by Cathy Yan, Birds of Prey, which also stars Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Jurnee Smollett-Bell, Rosie Perez, Chris Messina, Ella Jay Basco, and Ewan McGregor, opens February 7, 2020.
