Comics
‘Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey’: Warner Bros. Quickly Retitles Film After Weak Box Office Opening
I find the box office immensely fascinating. There are so many factors at play that us “experts” are pretty much making educated guesses as to what’s successful or not, and as to why. It’s rare when a studio offers some insight into their release, and none of us are privy to their exit reports. It’s all a guessing game.
This brings me to Warner Bros. Pictures’ Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn), their Suicide Squad spinoff that features Margot Robbie‘s Harley Quinn front and center in her very own movie.
Having skipped yesterday morning’s box office report, in short, the film underperformed. It opened at $33M with a global take of $84.5M. Not great. Also not a flop. Still, Warners expected much more out of this colorful and fun R-rated comic book movie that has a reported budget of $80-$100M. The film should break even, maybe even profit, but it should have been much, much more. What happened?
I spent the entire weekend searching for answers. Was it the R-rating? I mean, Deadpool did fine, so why not Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)? Maybe it was the timing? Black Panther broke box office records releasing in February. Was it the marketing? Maybe? I personally didn’t enjoy the trailers, but ended up having a great time with the film. How about the film’s unintelligible title? Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn). Awful. It’s such a mouthful that I couldn’t even remember it when I started writing this article.
Flashback to 2015, Warner Bros. was caught off guard when they started marketing Suicide Squad. They had no idea how popular Harley Quinn is. In fact, insiders tell me that they started to rework the film and shoot additional photography to inject her into more scenes.
So why in the world would you give the character her own movie and call it anything but Harley Quinn?
Warner Bros. is giving us a rare peek behind the curtain and offering up solid evidence that they believe, internally, that they made a mistake and that the title is one of the reasons for the film’s soft box office opening. It’s been confirmed that theater listings have officially changed the title from Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) to a much simpler, clean, and focused Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey. Just seeing it makes me feel less anxious. Funny enough, it also tells us the exact same information that the original did. It’s Harley Quinn’s movie with the Birds of Prey. Cool!
Even though Warner Bros. attempted this stunt once before with the Edge of Tomorrow VOD release, this move feels unprecedented. I’m not quite sure I’ve ever heard of a studio renaming their blockbuster release less than a week into release. I hope this move works because I don’t want to see Margot Robbie’s reign as Harley Quinn end like this. She deserves better.
Update: According to Atom Tickets’ Alisha Grauso, this isn’t an “official” title change. Here’s what she offered on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/alishagrauso/status/1227050788100247553?s=21
AMC, Cinemark, and Regal have all updated their sites to reflect the new title:
Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey.https://t.co/p1TlklXpY8 pic.twitter.com/9AC2O3cZgj
— Comicbook.com (@ComicBook) February 10, 2020
The supernatural world of Korean folk horror movie Exhuma grows larger with the arrival of prequel spinoff webtoon Maengjong this weekend, Variety reports today.
Naver Webtoon debuts Maengjong on May 30.
The series hails from Haemuri (Olgami) and will trace the high school origins of how shaman duo Hwarim and Bonggil, played by Kim Go-eun and Lee Do-hyun in the 2024 film, came together to face occultish threats.
The story is set to begin when “Hwarim, who has been concealing her identity following a childhood encounter with a snake spirit called Jin, crosses paths with Bonggil at their school.”
Variety notes that Exhuma director Jang Jae-hyun participated in the project’s early concept stage.
“We are presenting ‘Maengjong,’ a new series capturing the appeal of the horror-occult genre, ahead of the full summer season,” said Lee Jeong-geun, Naver Webtoon’s Korea webtoon content leader. “With the high school story of Hwarim and Bonggil, who left a strong impression in the film ‘Exhuma,’ enhanced by Haemuri’s characteristic tense direction, we expect it will be a welcome work for genre fans.”
“It is meaningful that the spin-off story of ‘Exhuma,’ loved by many audiences, expands by meeting the new grammar of webtoon,” said Lee Hyeon-jeong, managing director of the film business division at Showbox, which distributed the film. “We hope it will be a fresh experience for both film fans and webtoon readers.”
Exhuma was a breakout hit in 2024, becoming the first Korean occult film to surpass 10 million ticket buyers and the country’s highest-grossing film of the year. I wrote in my review that “the intricately woven Exhuma delivers one of the year’s biggest surprises in horror so far.”
The bond between Hwarim and Bonggil was one of the film’s highlights, making this prequel webtoon a must for fans.
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