Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) may need to double its current box office gross in order to break even. Despite earning widely positive reviews, the latest installment in the DC Extended Universe is something of a disappointment commercially. Birds of Prey posted the lowest opening weekend for a DC film in over a decade, earning $33 million domestically over its first three days. In response, Warner Bros. asked theaters to display the movie’s title as Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey so it was easier for audiences to find on websites and apps.

Even though Birds of Prey underperformed in its debut, it wasn’t seen as a catastrophic box office bomb a la Dolittle due to its moderate production budget. Especially when compared to other comic book adaptations, Birds of Prey was relatively cheap to make. That meant it was never in a position where it would have to break records in order to be successful. However, based on the latest reports, Birds of Prey still has a bit of work to do before it turns a profit for the studio.

According to Variety, Birds of Prey has to hit $300 million worldwide and $100 million in the U.S. to make its money back. As of this writing (February 18, 2020), the film stands at $62 million domestically and $145.6 million globally, so it’s not even halfway to that $300 million target figure.

Birds of Prey won’t be facing much in the way of direct competition the next few weeks, but it’ll still be interesting to see how it fares the rest of the way. The film clearly wasn’t as big of a draw as WB hoped, and right now it seems unlikely to turn things around. Unless Birds of Prey has exceptionally strong legs, it may even go down as a loss. That $300 million number is what the movie needs to earn to break even, making back its production and marketing costs. After a recent stretch of hits that included Wonder Woman, Aquaman, and Shazam (all of which have sequels on the way), Birds of Prey brought the DCEU’s hot streak to a halt. Fortunately for WB, Wonder Woman 1984 is poised to be one of the summer’s biggest hits and will help the studio rebound from Birds of Prey’s low turnout.

Harley Quinn will return in James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad, but her future beyond that is a mystery. WB might be leery about green-lighting another Birds of Prey film since this first one didn’t do particularly well at the box office. Perhaps they’d be willing to give something like Gotham City Sirens a shot, teaming Harley with the more recognizable Poison Ivy and Catwoman. That remains a project Margot Robbie is passionate about, so it seems like it would be worth developing down the line. WB can take solace in the fact Birds of Prey wasn’t the lynchpin holding the DCEU together (think Justice League), but it’s still disappointing the film didn’t take off as expected.

More: Birds of Prey’s Box Office Problems Go Back to One Bad Decision

Source: Variety

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