Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) underperformed at the domestic box office in its opening weekend despite seeming like a surefire success. In the end, Birds of Prey's opening weekend clocked in at $33 million on a production budget of $85 million, a franchise-low opening that has led some to label Birds of Prey as a flop. However, that sentiment has misshaped the discourse around the film, and although there might be some caution about the character going forward, Birds of Prey proves stories starring Harley Quinn can (and probably should) stand on their own.
Opening weekends are crucial to any movie's performance, and Birds of Prey underperformed domestically, at least when compared to other DC films and fellow movies in the superhero genre. With that said, Birds of Prey's worldwide total is already far above its production cost. Although that doesn't factor in marketing and other costs, a strong performance going forward means it's entirely possible for Birds of Prey to become a success in the long run. Not every film needs to break records on its opening weekend.
So, while Birds of Prey isn't a home run, it could become a solid outing for the DCEU. However, the dominant discourse on social media paints a different picture, and movie studios never seem to learn the right lessons from their perceived mistakes. While toxic fans will likely argue that the movie underperformed because of female leads and queer representation, it's likely Warner Bros. simply misjudged the popularity of the Birds of Prey as a recognizable household name. Birds of Prey, as a comic book property, is still fairly obscure. After all, the title "Birds of Prey" doesn't immediately hint at the appearance of characters that general audiences know of. Even though Harley appears on all of the visual marketing material, casual moviegoers just don't perk up without hearing her name.
While the studio attempts to adjust its marketing strategy for better box office numbers, the side effects might hurt future stories. For example, although it makes financial sense for Harley to show up in the marketing for next year's The Suicide Squad, Birds of Prey proves Harley can still carry her own story and doesn't need to be shoehorned into a team. In fact, Birds of Prey does a great job of humanizing Harley, especially now that she's free of her abusive relationship with the Joker. She's still a violent supervillain, but she's much more endearing than in Suicide Squad. Margot Robbie musters some real emotional depth while playing Harley, and it just goes to show that this character can easily headline a film -- even without her admittedly lovable supporting cast.
It's safe to say that a solo Harley Quinn movie would have been the safer move financially, seeing as the other team members are more minor players in the story. The rest of cast proves compelling -- especially Jurnee Smollett-Bell's Black Canary and Mary Elizabeth's Winstead's scene-stealing Huntress -- but the fact remains that Harley is popular enough to draw a crowd while still carrying enough on-screen weight to lead a film. Despite this, unfortunately, Birds of Prey's disappointing opening might discourage a solo Harley film, or even future movies starring women.
To a cynical executive, consolidating characters like Harley into team-up movies after Birds of Prey might seem like the right business move, but it's not. The characters aren't the problem, and neither is the movie itself. The studios' marketing simply wasn't effective. Movies like Wonder Woman and Captain Marvel have already proven that audiences want to see female-led blockbusters more than ever before. Warner Bros. shouldn't hide compelling female characters in team-ups and existing properties.
Directed by Cathy Yan from a script by Christina Hodson, Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) stars Margot Robbie, Jurnee Smollett-Bell, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Rosie Perez, Ewan McGregor, Ella Jay Basco, Steven Williams, Derek Wilson, Dana Lee, Francois Chau, Charlene Amoia, Chris Messina and Matthew Willig.