Birds Of Prey Box Office: How DC Can Still Save The Harley Quinn Movie

Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)'s disappointing box office has birthed endless conversations about what Warner Bros. did wrong, but it still has a few other options to hopefully make up for the film's poor financial performance. As with high profile releases, the Margot Robbie-led film's ticket sales have been carefully followed by enthusiasts. Unfortunately, its numbers aren't exactly the kind the studio was hoping for.

The Cathy Yan-directed movie sees Harley Quinn go up against Ewan McGregor's Roman Sionis/Black Mask following her break-up with the Joker. Fortunately, she finds new allies in Huntress/Helena Bertinelli (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), Dinah Laurel Lance/Black Canary (Jurnee Smollett-Bett), Renee Montoya (Rosie Perez), and Cassandra Cain (Ella Jay Basco) as they band together to take out the Gotham crime lord and his minions. With the buzz surrounding Birds of Prey mostly positive, many expected that it would be a sure-fire hit for Warner Bros. with projections of a $50 million three-day haul. In the end, it only made $33.2 million, making it the lowest opening for the DCEU.

After two weekends in theaters, Birds of Prey's current domestic haul is only $61.7 million, with a total of $145.2 million worldwide. That's not actually bad for a film that has a reported production budget of around $84.5 million. However, that's relatively low in terms of the very popular comic book movie sandbox. Couple that with the fact that it's spearheaded by Suicide Squad's breakout character, Harley Quinn, played by one of the most popular actress today, many argue that the film should be doing better. Here's how WB can help it.

Birds of Prey's Title Change Should Help The Movie, But It's Not Enough

Birds of Prey name change fixes one problem

Warner Bros. has already taken steps to help Birds of Prey's struggling box office earnings. The public has varying opinions on why something as well-reviewed comic book movie is currently struggling to bring people to the theaters, but among the most popular reason stems on its marketing. Some experts argue that the studio should've named the film after Harley Quinn - its most popular character and its true lead to initially pique the interest of even casual moviegoers. With this, Warner Bros. addressed the issue by retitling the movie to Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey on some major cinema chains such as AMC and Regal. Those who are browsing for schedules will see the new title instead of Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) which might be fun and a reflection of the movie's overall tone, but is difficult to market.

The retitling would help entice more people to catch the film with a recognizable name like Harley Quinn's explicitly in the title. Those who might have not been aware of what Birds of Prey is about would be more interested in seeing it with the confirmation that it features a popular comic book character. However, given the scale, a simple retitling at this stage is not enough, unfortunately.

DC Should Release A PG-13 Cut Of Birds of Prey

Birds of Prey Harley Quinn Movie Box Office R-Rating

Over the years, we've seen comic book movies squash the notion that an R-rating is a massive hindrance to its financial success. Todd Phillips Joker film starring Joaquin Phoenix grossed over $1 billion, James Mangold's Logan nabbed $619 million, while the Deadpool movies collectively earned $1.5 billion. However, the truth of the matter is an R-rating decreases a film's target market. Granted that the aforementioned releases did well in terms of box office, they also made the most of their R-ratings. Things are quite different with the latest DCEU movie, however, since Birds of Prey could've gone with a PG-13 rating without compromising its story. While there was a lot of swearing, blood splatters, and one skinning scene, it won't be difficult for Warner Bros. to re-edit the movie to exclude these bits given that they're not exactly integral to the story. If anything, the face-skinning does establish Sionis as a truly terrifying antagonist alongside Chris Messina's Victor Zsasz, but the film already does a good job sending that message.

Fox did a similar thing when they released Deadpool 2's PG-13 version, Once Upon A Deadpool to appeal to kids and families during the 2018 holidays. That resulted in an extra $51.2 million earning globally, bringing the sequel's total haul to $785 million. Warner Bros. can re-cut Birds of Prey and offer the public the option to go for an R-rated version or otherwise. This broadens their potential market and allows younger audience to catch the film. This also effectively makes it a possible family affair, with parents bringing their kids to the cinemas, and can tap into a core part of Harley Quinn's appeal.

Is It Too Late For Birds of Prey To Be Saved?

Birds of Prey Harley Quinn Margot Robbie Sad with Money

Admittedly, the poor opening weekend of Birds of Prey will be very hard to overcome this at this point. Looking at the numbers, DCEU films do well during its first three days with Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice posting as much as $166 million domestic, while Shazam!'s had the worst with just $53 million - that's before Birds of Prey's $33 million. All that being said, opening weekend numbers aren't always a good indication of total box office haul. Dawn of Justice racked up around $830 million at the end of its run which makes it only the second highest grossing DCEU film to date. That honor belongs to Aquaman, which kicked off its theatrical run with only $67 million(the third lowest), and ultimately became the franchise's biggest earner with $1.15 billion. This is primarily thanks to consistently performing a the box office for alms four months, with a final boost in its 13th week.

Now, Birds of Prey has what it take to have the legs like Aquaman's. Thanks to glowing reviews from both critics and those who have seen the film, the good word of mouth can help entice more people to catch the film. Couple that with a PG-13 rating and a better marketing push from Warner Bros., the movie can have a steady earning for the foreseeable future, allowing it to consistently rack up weekly earnings for a bigger total haul.

Birds of Prey Should Be Big On Home Release

Warner Bros.' chances of earning from Birds of Prey don't end in theaters. The movie can also be huge in terms of Home Entertainment release. This is especially pivotal if a scaled down PG-13 rating won't be done, or people simply aren't convinced to check it any more in theaters. The 2010 film Scott Pilgrim vs. the World wrapped up its theatrical run with just $48 million worldwide, meaning it took a significant financial loss given its $60 million production budget. However, the movie surprisingly did well in terms of domestic home market performance with an estimated additional $29 million ($19 million for DVD and $10 million for Blu-ray sales). Those who didn't see it in theaters caught it at home, hence, expanding the film's reach, even making it somewhat of a cult favorite. Aside from the Edgar Wright project, films such as Fight Club, Blade Runner 1982, Donnie Darko, and Dredd all performed poorly at the box office only to become successful on their respective home entertainment releases.

Aside from DVDs and Blu-rays, Warner Bros. can also have additional earnings with streaming and other on-demand services. This is why Warner Bros. needs to make a big marketing push for Birds of Prey once they're ready to release on other format and platforms following its theatrical run.

There's a lot to enjoy in Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn), and while it's not a financial flop like people assume it to be, it also should be performing way better at the box office than what it's currently doing. Regardless of what caused its current earning status, Warner Bros. should step up and make sure they do everything they can to get more people to see the film, not just purely because of financial reasons, but because it's genuinely a great time at the cinema.

More: Birds Of Prey Title Change Explained: Why The Harley Quinn Movie Has A New Name