Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) ticket presales outsold Suicide Squad and Wonder Woman on its first day. The highly anticipated DCEU movie featuring beloved comic book anti-heroine Harley Quinn (played with award-worthy aplomb by Margot Robbie) is set to premiere officially next week.

Fresh off her breakup with the Joker, Harley Quinn joins an all female band of confident superheroes with the mission to protect the young Cassandra Cain (Ella Jay Basco) from Ewan McGregor's villainous crime lord Black Mask. Harley's team consists of other formidable but somewhat lesser known DC characters from Black Canary (Jurnee Smollett-Bell) to Huntress (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) and Gotham City cop Renee Montoya (Rosie Perez). While more concrete plot details remain somewhat sparse before the premiere, overwhelmingly positive early reactions for the movie indicate that the film is a total blast.

Related: Who is Black Canary? Jurnee Smollett-Bell's Character Explained 

According to a presales report from the popular website/movie app Atom TicketsBirds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) not only outsold Suicide Squad and Wonder Woman in the same period of time, it is also the third best DC movie in terms of presales. (With the second place going to Aquaman and the top spot being held somewhat ironically by Joker.) Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) was also included on Atom's top ten list of most anticipated fall movie list, per a survey of 1,000 millennials polled.

Harley Quinn at a deli in Birds of Prey

Birds of Prey is successfully subverting audience expectations for a typical superhero movie from the get-go. Featuring a cast of incredibly strong and compelling women in their own right, the film will also be R-rated and not shy away from being gritty instead of staying safely in a PG-13 rated lane. While the film's producers Sue Kroll and Bryan Unkeless have said that the movie is meant to be more than just a typical girl power message the fact that the film was written by a woman (Christina Hodson), directed by a woman (Cathy Yan) and starring a superb female cast belies an underlying message of empowerment that's challenging not to feel inspired about. Harley's origin story and descent into zany madness was tied to the Joker in Suicide Squad, so it will be interesting to see how she spreads her own proverbial wacky wings in this new movie. The chance to get to see other famous female comic book characters like Black Canary and Huntress will only enhance the movie, as the production team has made it clear it's not only about Harley.

It is not surprising in the slightest that a Harley Quinn spin-off movie is selling tickets and garnering plenty of pre-premiere acclaim. Margot Robbie's take on the extremely popular comic book character was easily the best part of Suicide Squad and left audiences wanting more of the anti-heroine. While it's taken five years (according to Margot Robbie) for audiences to see Harley riding solo on the big screen in Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of Harley Quinn), clearly the movie will be worth the wait.

Next: 5 Things From Suicide Squad That Birds of Prey Should Retcon (& 5 That It Should Keep)

Source: Atom Tickets

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