Birds of Prey is definitely causing quite the buzz wether it’s good or bad the word is getting out there because of it. The critical reception is fantastic along with the praise the audience has given it who had the pleasure of watching early at the World premiere in Mexico on Jan 25th then the London premiere on Jan 29th which is when the social media embargo lifted. The review embargo lifted on Monday IIRC before release which from what I understand is pretty standard procedure for WB to get the hype train moving. Up until the early documented box office earnings the reception for Birds of Prey has been excellent with word of mouth giving it strong legs over the opening weekend but obviously not enough as numbers are down due to early predictions, why is this could be many of things but I highly doubt the name.
First and foremost it’s still early it hasn’t even been out a week yet and it’s been deemed a flop by some already even though it’s already made back its money it cost to make which was 82 million and then another 15 was allocated for marketing. It’s shown that marketing is its biggest downfall but it was always going to be an uphill battle being R Rated, being the lowest cost made “DCEU” film ever and in the month of February the quietest month for films for the whole year. Even with such a limited budget advertising and marketing has been good with the biggest standout being Harleywood and Burger King.
Yeah the posters have been hit and miss but overall I like them all apart from 1 or 2 badly photoshopped posters. Trailers have been great with not giving away the whole picture to give you the overall tone of the film. The costumes are probably the weakest point and biggest complaint I’ve seen but in all fairness none of these characters are established just yet and seen mostly in their street wear well except for Harley but she’s a tragic train wreck after the breakup with her puddin so can understand where they are going with her costumes as she’s trying to re establish herself with her emancipation.
Yes we don’t get 101% comic accurate costumes but we do get Roller Derby Comic Harley and an adaption of her SS Rebirth outfit plus the birds once formed get more accurate comic costumes.
Another weak point is there is no Babs / Oracle and this doesn’t resonate well with the fans which is understandable but WB want to do a solo for Batgirl first and we still need to cross the road of the Killing Joke to get to Oracle.
One other major standout which has lowered expectations of box office earnings from the GP of unknown characters has to be this does not have the MCU clout which makes it so easy for the mouse house to cash in on. There is also the antis that have labelled this as a “SJW feminism” film which has spread its toxicity all over Twitter. Then there is the fact that a lot of people are still burnt over Suicide Squad and will not watch this because of this even though that was heavily interfered with the studio to be like a GOTG wannabe.
WB and DC have had to do a lot of rebuilding after Josstice League and Suicide Squad so still have a lot of rebuilding to go to regain peoples trust but they are definitely on the right road with their +1 billion outings of Aquaman and Joker. Then there’s Toby Emmerich the only left of that old whine who was responsible for the downturn of the DCEU if anyone is to blame for hitting the panic button it’s him as this is Walter Hamada’s first movie under his regime as he joined later to the party for Aquaman and Shazam.
Anyways this doesn’t change a thing for me I will continue to sing loud from the rooftop how freaking amazing this film is in more ways than one and how perfect Margot is as Harley with this film digging deep into her core of who she is for her good and her bad.
Oh btw even though Margot hand picked the outfit for Suicide Squad after many costume trials she ended up feeling very uncomfortable in it especially after the “fun reshoots” which added the “male gaze”. So can totally understand why that’s gone and it wasn’t even iconic at all as the inspiration is from Blondie’s Debbie Harry as seen below.
Anywho that’s my rant go watch Harley Quinn : Birds of Prey you want regret it most fun I’ve had in the cinemas for years it’s a blast from start to finish with great acting, cinematography and fight choreography. Will definitely be going to watch it for the third time in the coming weeks as Box Office earnings doesn’t = the quality of the film never has never will.
in The Suicide Squad (uploaded original photo if the link to the set video gets taken down - see below picture)
