Why Didn’t BIRDS OF PREY Take Flight at the Box Office?

DC Films continued to expand its universe with this year’s Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn). A spinoff from Suicide Squad, the film sees Harley Quinn set out on her own and join forces with other characters, leading to the Birds of Prey. The movie had all the right things going for it: positive reviews, a dedicated cast, and the promise of another director-driven story from DC. This should have led to a big box office turnout, right? Well, not so much.

Birds of Prey grossed about $202 million worldwide on a reported $84.5 million budget. While not a huge flop – Justice League lost money, for example – this is still an underwhelming number that is below expectations. So, what happened? Box office is a tricky topic, and any number of factors can come into play.

Today, we discuss some potential factors as to why Birds of Prey didn’t take flight…

Poor Marketing

Birds of Prey‘s marketing campaign has drawn mixed responses from fans. There’s the movie’s unconventional title, shorter-than-usual campaign, no San Diego Comic-Con appearance, and more. Plus, the trailers did focus on Harley Quinn, but despite being called Birds of Prey, the other characters didn’t have as much of a spotlight (a critique also given to the movie itself). Needless to say, the movie was seen as a creative risk that needed to draw in audiences, but the marketing didn’t do it any favors.

Early COVID-19 Concerns

Around the time Birds of Prey came out, the coronavirus pandemic began to affect individuals in the United States and other countries. This was a month before theaters began to shut down, and before the U.S. set any major lockdowns. However, there was likely at least some concerns from audiences, which would have led to decreased attendance anyways.

The R-Rating?

Many people have talked about Birds of Prey‘s R-rating, citing it as a reason for its commercial disappointment. However, I personally have my doubts. R-rated comic book movies have thrived in recent years; see Logan and the Deadpool series (the latter of which has demographic overlap with Harley Quinn). And just last year, Joker made over a billion dollars. So, the R-rating itself doesn’t always matter. Could it have had some impact? Sure, which is why it’s listed here. But I don’t see how it could’ve been a significant one.

Suicide Squad Fallout

This, however, is a factor that I can see being a big one. Despite a strong box office turnout, Suicide Squad drew negative reviews from critics and mixed reception from fans. And it’s been nearly four years, and word-of-mouth surely builds up in that time. So, audiences may not be in a hurry to see more movies with the same characters/cast. For instance, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice made a lot of money, but was thrashed by critics and fans. Shortly after, Justice League came out with much of the same cast/creative team, and the movie was a flop. It wouldn’t be outlandish to think the same thing has happened here.

All of the Above…?

At the end of the day, it’s unclear exactly why Birds of Prey didn’t make as much as it could have. But it wouldn’t be shocking if all of these factors (and more?) played into it. Perhaps audiences didn’t want to risk seeing a poorly marketed movie that’s a spinoff of a movie they didn’t like, with a restrictive rating, while a worldwide pandemic is about to hit. There could also be factors that we didn’t list here.

Regardless, it’s important to remember that this article is slowly about the box office results for Birds of Prey. This is not meant to be an opinion on the quality of the movie itself. In my opinion, Birds of Prey is a very enjoyable movie, and it should have made more money. Many others like it too, and a lot of other people do not. It’s like every other movie.