According to Screenrant, Birds of Prey (And The Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn), has gotten a title change at Warner Brothers’ request. The movie studio has decided to market the film as Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey instead. This is due mainly to the poor box office showing the movie had in its opening weekend, only grossing 33.2 million USD domestically, and is the worst opening performance for a DC movie since Jonah Hex in 2010 (5.3 million USD).
In comparison, a critical flop like Green Lantern still made 53.1 million USD in its opening week. The box office results is surprising given the positive reviews the movie has been receiving, as it currently stands at 80% on Rotten Tomatoes.
Over at Variety, box office analysts have looked into the reasons behind the poor box office results for Birds of Prey. Jeff Bock, a box office analyst with Exhibitor Relations, said that Birds of Prey “wasn’t for the movie masses, [because] it was a niche comic-book movie.” Their international performance might be a little lackluster due to fears of the coronavirus in Asia affecting the movie-going experience. The R rating would also prevent some from watching it.
But the main reason cited was the title, since it assumed movie-goers would be familiar with the characters. Jeff Bock also added that Warner Bros. made a misstep, since Harley Quinn would be a name that would draw in audiences given the hype surrounding the character after Robbie’s performance in Suicide Squad. I guess Warner Bros. has taken the advice to heart, hoping that a title change would bring better tidings for the movie.
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