“Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)” released its first look with a 20-second teaser video and an Instagram post from Harley Quinn actress Margot Robbie. The teaser was originally uploaded to a YouTube channel called CheekySneakyPeeky which was likely made by DC for some viral marketing. In her Instagram post-Margot Robbie posted a picture of herself in a new outfit with the caption, “Miss me?” and a kiss mark emoji next to it. The Instagram post and teaser video can be seen below.
What the teaser reveals
Despite only being 20 seconds long, the teaser actually shows quite a bit.
First off we get a look at a couple of trademark weapons including Harley’s mallet and The Huntress’ crossbow. After that, there’s someone drinking from a wine bottle and a shot Cassandra Cain’s pink arm cast. After that, we get a load of blink-and-you-miss-it shots of the main cast. This includes Ewan McGregor as Black Mask, Ella Jay Basco as Cassandra Cain, Chris Messina as Victor Zsasz, Jurnee Smollett-Bell as Black Canary, Mary Elizabeth Winstead as The Huntress, and Rosie Perez as Renee Montoya. The teaser then ends with a better look at Margot Robbie in her new outfit as Harley Quinn.
While this clip hardly tells us anything about the plot, it does give us an idea of what to expect from the film visually and potentially tonally.
Of course, trailers can be misleading, but if we take this clip at face value, “Birds of Prey” seems to be emphasizing some key bright neon colors against its mostly gritty and dark looking characters.
What’s it rated?
Originally, it was rumored “Birds of Prey” would be rated R, but according to CinemaBlend, “it looks like that rating might not be set in stone, as it could end up being PG-13.” Despite R rated superhero movie successes like “Deadpool” and “Logan,” many studios seem nervous to embrace the rating.
Examples include Sony’s “Venom” which ultimately went with a PG-13 rating despite it seeming like the perfect candidate to take advantage of the R rating. Chances are “Birds of Prey” will follow suit, as the PG-13 rating allows for a wider range audience, but an R rating could just be exactly what DC needs to shake up its cinematic universe.
“Birds of Prey” is slated to release Feb. 7, 2020, according to Variety. If all goes as planned, “Birds of Prey” will the eighth film in the DC Extended Universe of films, after this year’s release of “Shazam!” in April. It’s hard to say how 2020 will treat superhero films, but 2018 definitely saw quite a few successes with “Aquaman” breaking a billion dollars at the box office and “Into The Spider-Verse” making over 35 million domestically in its opening weekend.
