Despite positive reviews from critics and audiences, Birds of Prey disappointed with a $33 million opening weekend, the lowest for a film in the DC Extended Universe. While not a box office bomb, Birds of Prey is barely expected to break even. Meanwhile, against all odds, Sonic The Hedgehog narrowly beat Detective Pikachu's record for biggest opening weekend for a video game movie.
The underlying reasons explaining Sonic The Hedgehog's success at the box office are, coincidentally, the three most important factors that explain Birds of Prey's failure at the box office: name recognition, mainstream appeal and marketing.
One of the critical factors that explain Birds of Prey's lack of flight at the box office was the film's title. Many audiences didn't realize that Birds of Prey was actually a Harley Quinn-centric movie. Margot Robbie's portrayal of the character was up one of the few critically praised aspects of the much maligned Suicide Squad, but since it wasn't clear that Harley was the focus, her presence wasn't enough to carry Birds of Prey. Warner Bros. titled to rectify the damage by re-titling the film as Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey for ticket websites, but it was unfortunately too little and too late.
In contrast, Sonic The Hedgehog, is a well-known name. The film based on an enormously popular gaming series that has spanned decades, and the title makes it obvious the Blue Blur is front and center.
Additionally, Sonic The Hedgehog has far more mainstream appeal than Birds of Prey. While the latter was favorably received by critics, the superhero dramedy is dark, violent, and often uncomfortable to watch for audiences. Plus, Birds of Prey's R-rating ended up hurting the film, as many young Harley Quinn fans couldn't see the movie in theaters.
On the other hand, Sonic The Hedgehog is a by-the-numbers family adventure film that features a zany performance from Jim Carrey. Sonic The Hedgehog received an A Cinemascore from audiences, which indicates that the film will be boosted by positive word-of-mouth in the coming weeks. Birds of Prey received a B+ Cinemascore, which is good, but the same score that Suicide Squad received in 2016. Combine that the unfortunate obstacles that female led comic book films face and it's easy to see why Birds of Prey was at a disadvantage.
Finally, Sonic The Hedgehog's excellent marketing and Birds of Prey's underwhelming marketing helped determine the eventual box office fates of both movies. While the initial trailer for Sonic The Hedgehog received an overwhelming amount of scorn from both critics and fans, the film got an unexpectedly large amount of positive PR when director Jeff Fowler and Paramount Pictures chose to delay the film and give Sonic a redesign. The trailer featuring the redesigned Sonic received an historic amount of likes.
Unfortunately, the marketing campaign for Birds of Prey was not so successful. While the film didn't have to deal with the kind of immediate backlash Sonic did, Paramount was able to use it to their advantage. Instead, the film's trailers chose to focus almost exclusively on Robbie's Harley Quinn while ignoring the rest of the group. While it makes sense to reintroduce the most recognizable character and actress, the lack of attention given to the titular Birds of Prey ultimately hurt the movie.
Whereas Sonic The Hedgehog's big opening weekend indicates the beginning of a new family-adventure franchise, Birds of Prey's disappointing box office results means that a sequel is far from likely. Though Birds of Prey is far from a bad movie, a combination of poor choices and inherent disadvantages kept it from truly taking flight.
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.
Jeff Fowler's Sonic the Hedgehog stars Ben Schwartz as Sonic and Jim Carrey as Dr. Robotnik, with James Marsden, Neal McDonald, Tika Sumpter, Adam Pally and Natasha Rothwell. The film is now in theaters.