Birds of Prey Reactions

[ComicJunkie21]

Huntress has a quite small role in the movie (arguably the smallest one among the named characters), but she has some good moments.

Black Mask is a bit trickier but Ewan McGregor does a great job as Roman Sionis the Mob Boss.

Let me put it like this: if you approach this as a girl gang action mob movie, you'll have a grand time.

Yeah, I think people need to also remember that DC has always reinvented their characters even in comics it's part of their appeal. For DC its best to look at each piece of work as something new. You may like it or you may not. For me as long as the core of the characters are the same and the film is good, I don't mind other creative changes.

For people who say that Marvel makes their movies closer to the comics, well that's also because Marvel doesn't really reinvent their characters as much they usually pass the mantle to someone else. Characters like Captain America, Iron Man, Thor, Spiderman, and F4 have not changed too much since their creation. Nothing wrong with it, both companies just have different strengths that work for them. For DC they had to reinvent their characters out of necessity, which is why we they are open to different takes on characters without thinking much about it.

[basbash99]

Comic Book Movies, even modestly budgeted ones, are expected to do quite a bit more than that. Otherwise, the "disappointing box office" stories will start to appear online come Monday.

I think the problem with BoP-HQ is a combination of the R-rating which keeps the kids away, the all-female cast which is going to keep a lot of guys away, and the hyperviolence which women don't really flock to the theater to see.

It's kind of a recipe on how to construct a NO-Quadrant movie.

If this weren't a CBM, I wouldn't have bothered to see it.

Unfortunately, I do feel this movie will struggle to reach $100 million domestically, and may not even do that.

Good analysis. i liked the movie but you've outlined some factors that likely impacted its box office. I would add that DC may have overestimated Harley's popularity - sure she was the best thing in suicide squad (which isn't saying much) but carrying her own movie is a different matter. Personally i find the voice Robbie gives her grating, which was amplified by having Harley provide ongoing narration. So i guess i would say i enjoyed BoP despite Harley, not because of her.

I guess i can understand people being upset about characters being different from the comics, but that's hardly just a DC thing. Compare Drax and Starlord to their comic counterparts in say, Annihilation. Or Korg. Or Wong. The list goes on and on...

[The Cool Thatguy]

I guess i can understand people being upset about characters being different from the comics, but that's hardly just a DC thing. Compare Drax and Starlord to their comic counterparts in say, Annihilation. Or Korg. Or Wong. The list goes on and on...

Yeah, but those characters still have their basics there. Drax is still super tough, Korg still made of stone, etc.

[batnbreakfast]

Huntress has a quite small role in the movie (arguably the smallest one among the named characters), but she has some good moments.

Black Mask is a bit trickier but Ewan McGregor does a great job as Roman Sionis the Mob Boss.

Let me put it like this: if you approach this as a girl gang action mob movie, you'll have a grand time.

Unfortunately I neither have time nor resources for watching mediocre movies. I'm mad as hell and depressed on the best of days and don't need more reason to be like that

[Frontier]

I guess there's like, half of one, but this movie is so deliberately amoral that there can hardly be said to be a positive female character either. I think this question is predisposed to be upset, but there's nothing to be upset about. It's a movie about some super-type ladies and an evil crime boss. There's not a whole lot of room for positive male characters, or really any characters outside the main cast and the villain to be that well developed. It's a very tight movie.

This makes me kind of appreciate how Gail Simone handled gender dynamics...

Yeah, but those characters still have their basics there. Drax is still super tough, Korg still made of stone, etc.

Drax makes sense if you assume they combined modern Drax with how dumb classic Drax could be.

They nerfed Cass like they nerfed Mantis.

[Valentis]

Birds of Prey is imploding at the box office. No Batman. No Joker. There is no point to have harley Quinn. You would have to have atleast 3 batman vs joker movies with harley Quinn as sidekick to invest in a movie without either batman or joker.

[LifeIsILL]

Didn't Aquaman make 1 billion? No way is he more popular than Harley Quinn.

[Jim Kelly]

There seems to be an emerging trend with DC movies. WONDER WOMAN does well then JUSTICE LEAGUE fails; AQUAMAN makes a billion then SHAZAM! underperforms; JOKER makes a billion then BIRDS OF PREY AND THE FANTABULOUS EMANCIPATION OF ONE HARLEY QUINN underperforms. It's a zig zag pattern--and it's not like the movies that succeed have much in common nor do those that fail all fall into the same camp. You would think that the success of one movie would spur audiences (at least on opening weekend) to check out the next, but the opposite happens. JUSTICE LEAGUE came out only five months after WONDER WOMAN (it even had WW in it); SHAZAM! also came out five months after AQUAMAN; BOPATFEOOHQ came out just four months after JOKER.

[WillieMorgan]

Didn't Aquaman make 1 billion? No way is he more popular than Harley Quinn.

His film's gonna be. By a huge distance also.

BOP has generated just 81 million WW across it's opening weekend. It's a modestly budgeted film but expectations were a lot higher than that.

This film could very well struggle to pass the 300 million mark. I don't like saying that as a DC fan, even though I wasn't personally invested in this movie.

[regnak]

Didn't Aquaman make 1 billion? No way is he more popular than Harley Quinn.

He is now.

[Valentis]

Didn't Aquaman make 1 billion? No way is he more popular than Harley Quinn.

Whoever said the movie should be Rated R should be fired. Female movies don't normally make money. Rating it R is the kiss of death.

[titanfan]

Whoever said the movie should be Rated R should be fired. Female movies don't normally make money. Rating it R is the kiss of death.

I think it’s a valid argument that if you look at Harley Quinn fans and who is the biggest buyer of her merch, it’s younger girls.

IMHO, it would be easy for them to recut this movie into a PG13 movie by next week.

[WillieMorgan]

Whoever said the movie should be Rated R should be fired. Female movies don't normally make money. Rating it R is the kiss of death.

Yeah, the R rating was very self-defeating. Especially for a film like this.

There definitely are people employed in the movie industry that are a waste of both time and their extravagant wages. This film doesn't appear to have known it's target audience or purpose at any stage of it's development.

[bat39]

I personally thought the movie was an absolute blast! May not be the best DCEU movie, but its probably the most entertaining one! Its everything I expected Suicide Squad to be and which it failed at. In that regard, I think making it R-rated was absolutely the best decision from a creative standpoint...whether it was a good call from a business standpoint only time will tell.

I loved the plot. It was a neat cross between a Tarantino film and a hardboiled Raymond Chandler-esq noir, with a bunch of Batman/DC characters thrown in. Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn was absolutely brilliant. And while she's clearly the star of the show, the other members of the 'team' do get their moments to shine.

Jurnee Smollet-Bell was a great Black Canary. Race-lift notwithstanding, I'd say she's one of the most comic-book accurate versions of the character we've seen on-screen so far (and I say this as someone who loves Katie Cassidy and Caity Lotz in the Arrowverse) and I REALLY look forward to seeing more of her on-screen...preferably with a certain Emerald Archer.

Mary Elizabeth Winstead was also an interesting take on the Huntress. Very different from any version of the character in the comics, but a fun take nonetheless. Rosie Perez's Montoya didn't really impress me much but she was a decent take on the character - albeit not quiet how I picture her.

Once you look past the fact that the 'Cassandra Cain' character in this movie has nothing to do with a certain Batgirl, then it doesn't bother you much. I'm not particularly a Cass Cain fan so it didn't bother me much, but I can understand Cass fans getting pissed with this movie's use of the name.

Ewan MacGregor's Black Mask is a suitably sleazy yet ruthless Mob boss. The only thing that bothers me about him is external to this movie's narrative - if Gotham ended up being run by a sociopathic sleazeball like this then you really wonder what Batfleck's twenty-plus years in the cowl really accomplished! Batman's absence in general is a little conspicuous is you really think about it. So is the Joker's for that matter. But again, these are largely external to the movie itself.

I love how, in the ending, they kinda admit the fact that Harley Quinn and the Birds of Prey are really different concepts/brands. It does seem to set the stage for a BoP sequel that could potentially not feature Harley, while Harley herself rides away to new adventures. I'd definitely love to see more of this take on Black Canary and Huntress. Maybe Montoya too if she suits up as the Question.

On the whole, a great film!

[luprki]

Whoever said the movie should be Rated R should be fired. Female movies don't normally make money. Rating it R is the kiss of death.

Unfortunately, you maybe right. R rated female driven movie can be tough to sell. But it’s better than that MCU family friendly crap.