Despite tons of hype and a slew of great reviews, Birds of Prey opened to lower-than-predicted box office, so what happened with DC’s latest? After a rocky start and some serious headline-making business decisions, Warner Bros. finally got onto steadier ground with their highly valuable DC Cinematic Universe. 2019 saw them reach new box office heights with the billion-dollar success of Aquaman, which they followed up with the family-friendly delight of Shazam! They exceeded all expectations with Joker, a film that not only became the highest-grossing R-rated movie of all time, but it also garnered more Oscar nominations than any other film of last year. 2020 sees them committing more to the DCEU but with less focus on stridently sticking to the expansion of an epic canon and more attention given to characters, changes in tone, and vibrant styling. The film that was meant to kick this all off was Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn).
Following the commercial success but critical disaster of 2016’s Suicide Squad, a movie that was mired in production issues and editing room clashes, Harley Quinn actress Margot Robbie decided to take control of the reins and push for a solo movie that brought together some of the most iconic women in DC canon. Attached as star and producer, she campaigned for little-known director Cathy Yan to take on the project, making her the first female Asian-American director to helm a superhero film. Birds of Prey offered a less solemn and more cartoonish approach to Gotham City compared to its franchise predecessors. Reviews were very strong too, so things seemed primed for the movie to open big at the box office this weekend. Sadly, something went wrong along the way.
From a reported budget of $84.5 million (although some sources place it closer to $100 million), Birds of Prey only grossed $33.25 million domestically. Warner Bros. was predicting a $45 - 50 million start for the movie. Worldwide, so far, it’s taken in around $81.2 million. This isn’t terrible news – the film can still cover a lot of ground over the quiet end-of-winter months – but it’s also definitely not what they were hoping this addition to their mega-franchise would do. So what happened? How did a film that critics loved and that was primed for success fall behind?
Birds of Prey’s R-Rating Limited Its Audience
There’s a lot of chaotic fun in Birds of Prey that only could have been pulled off with an R-rating, and it’s understandable why Warner Bros. would be keen to keep a foothold with this key demographic that’s essentially theirs for the taking since Marvel doesn’t do anything beyond PG-13. James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad is also set to be R-rated, which makes a lot of sense for the source material. Still, Birds of Prey was perhaps not the ideal project to warrant such a hard rating. Everything about the marketing seemed tailor-made for a PG-13 rating, ideal to hook in the demographic of adolescent girls who were so keyed into the aesthetic and character of Harley. It wouldn’t have taken much to make Birds of Prey into a PG-13 either, all without diluting its style or the aspects that make it so enjoyable. It seems like a wasted opportunity to sell all this cool Harley merchandise that appeals to teen girls and then not let them go see the movie with their friends. 2016’s Suicide Squad may have gotten flack for its PG-13 rating, but it grossed over $746 million worldwide.
February Isn’t a Great Month For Movie Releases
January and February are still considered the dumping ground for cinematic releases, the months when major studios drop the movies that tested badly or can skate by with minimal grosses. There have been some recent exceptions to this rule, most notably the billion-dollar success of Marvel’s Black Panther, but they’re exceptions for a reason. Deadpool is another exception, one that Birds of Prey was frequently compared to, but that film had a really savvy marketing strategy and wasn’t attached to a franchise that some potential viewers are still tentative to revisit. Industry logic still dictates that the post-Christmas/pre-spring months aren’t great for tentpole releases like Birds of Prey.
Birds of Prey’s Marketing Was Mixed
Understandably, Birds of Prey eschewed the typical marketing tactics for a superhero movie. It focused more on the parodic elements of the story and characters, evoking riot grrrl imagery and the aesthetic of Europop music videos, all of which are highly accurate in terms of capturing the movie’s irreverent and manic tone.
The biggest issue the trailers had was with introducing the rest of the cast to audiences unfamiliar with the Birds of Prey comics. As much as the trailers captured the mood of the movie, they were less successful in getting viewers to care about anyone other than Harley, whom they were already aware of. This was key since the Birds of Prey themselves are nowhere near as established to moviegoing audiences as they are to comics fans. Fans of the DC TV shows may know who Black Canary is, but those series have a sliver of the audience that the DCEU commands and requires.
The film’s late review embargo also worked against it. Given how strong the reviews were, especially when compared to Suicide Squad, it’s strange that Warner Bros. didn’t seem to have much confidence in this film. Birds of Prey reviews didn’t arrive until three days before the film’s release, which is usually a sign that critics disliked it. If you were a potential ticket buyer who saw the trailers but wanted to wait for reviews, especially after Suicide Squad, the glowing write-ups may have come too late for you.
The overall international gross was also hurt by some major territories, such as the UK, not getting any Thursday previews, which are a reliable way for a studio to get the numbers up before the official weekend kicks off. Like its predecessor Suicide Squad, Birds of Prey didn’t have a scheduled release in China, the world’s second largest market, though Chinese theaters remain shut down due to the coronavirus.
The problem with Birds of Prey lies not with the movie itself. DC and Warner Bros. have had to deal with more than a few critical duds in their time, but this was one that should have been a much easier and more successful sell to general audiences. It had all the ingredients for greatness, but a combination of a bad release date, some confused marketing, and a lack of understanding of their built-in audience grounded what should have been a soaring success. It’s a shame because Birds of Prey most certainly deserves better than this, much in the same way that Shazam! should have been a bigger financial hit than it was. Hopefully, these films will eventually find their audience and the DCEU won’t be put off taking the kinds of creative and thematic risks that made them wonderful viewing experiences.
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