'Birds of Prey' confirmed R-rated for 'strong violence, sex and drug use'

Sounds like they weren't joking when they said the Birds of Prey movie would be getting a solid R-rating.

Via Slashfilm, the US Motion Picture Association of America – our answer to the BBFC – has confirmed that the Harley Quinn-led follow up to Suicide Squad will be officially R-rated.

This is for 'strong violence and language throughout, and some sexual and drug material'.

Suicide Squad came in for a 15-rating when it was released in 2016, putting the two movies roughly in line with each other in terms of grown up content (R-ratings in the US mostly translate to 15 over here).

Read more: Margot Robbie ‘confused’ by Joker romance

Director Cathy Yan – and Warner Bros – have been likely buoyed by the wild success of Joker, which despite an R-rating managed to top $1 billion at the worldwide box office.

The movie finds Margot Robbie reprising her role as Harley Quinn – the full title of the movie is Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) – the gonzo criminal turned vigilante and former girlfriend of the Joker.

Though it's since emerged that the movie will be all but erasing what happened in Suicide Squad.

Producer Sue Kroll told Screenrant: “It's a standalone movie, it's not connected to Suicide Squad. It's not a sequel, it's not a continuation of that story. So it has nothing to do with her break out of prison. But you're right, and we've been very upfront that this is about her emancipation.

“She and the Joker have broken up. This is her personal journey of discovery with these women. So it's not related at all, so don't try to apply linear logic to how the two go, because they don't.”

Read more: The Suicide Squad ‘feels like a comedy’

Kroll went on: “I don't think it has any similarities to Suicide Squad, except that we have Harley at the centre of it. I mean her character really is the one that popped out of Suicide Squad, so all of the amazing things that people embraced about her we have in our movie, and then some. We have this unique opportunity, right?

“So she's the thing that's the same, but other than that it's a standalone story. And uniquely its own.”

Starring Robbie alongside Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Jurnee Smollett-Bell, Rosie Perez, Chris Messina, Ella Jay Basco, Ali Wong, and Ewan McGregor, it lands in the UK on February 7.

Sequel The Suicide Squad, directed by James Gunn, will follow on in August, 2021.