Birds of Prey by Kelley Thompson and Leo Romero

[cranger]

Here is the thing though, Harley does not sell BOP. A movie with her and BOP just exists. It flopped though, and every BOP comic they launched with her came and went like farts in the wind. So this idea that she helps BOP sell hasn't been true.

A book that fans read and do not like will probably not sell except in rare cases. But if the book is good then the more people who give it a try means the more chance of converting those into readers. Obviously there is no sure thing and no one is saying there is.

Feels like the point of BOP has been lost on DC since the Nu52 reboot and beyond. It wasn't just 'lets throw these female heroes together and path ourselves on the back for how progressive we are'. The whole point was Babs finding and gathering a group of other women who are lost, troubled, traumatized or been through some **** and giving them a place. Babs is the center and the team is built around her. Unless you center her in the narrative and really commit to building the relationships between characters, none of these relaunches are going to stick.

Thompson responded to someone on Twitter who mentioned some of the characters revealed at that point matching that description. Barbara is also crucial to the coming together of this team even if she is absent from the first arc. Maybe it is a risk to hold her back, so hopefully this one gets it right from the start.

[GreenGriffin]

pretty excited for this, love me some Big Barda.

[Mantis-Ray]

I’m not saying it was the Birds of Prey. I’m just saying this idea that they can just add Harley to BOP to get it to sell has never worked. The movie people of course blamed it on Birds of Prey and changed its title mid release. Which personally makes me think the brand is actually worse off because of that movie as BOP was deemed the failure. BOP insulation Harley and Margo Robbie more then they have helped the brand.

Man can you imagine had that movie actually been successful though? That film was released at the peak of Harley-mania, it proving unprofitable is also when the character stopped getting pushed so hard in comics. Had she netted herself a successful movie (doesn't even have to be a billion dollars) then the exact opposite would have happened there.

We definitely would have gotten a new Birds ongoing earlier with Harley as the main star. Harley's membership here is similar to how the Suicide Squad game is modeling its Deadshot after the Will Smith incarnation, years out of date after the failure of that movie.

[Rac7d*]

Man can you imagine had that movie actually been successful though? That film was released at the peak of Harley-mania, it proving unprofitable is also when the character stopped getting pushed so hard in comics. Had she netted herself a successful movie (doesn't even have to be a billion dollars) then the exact opposite would have happened there.

We definitely would have gotten a new Birds ongoing earlier with Harley as the main star. Harley's membership here is similar to how the Suicide Squad game is modeling its Deadshot after the Will Smith incarnation, years out of date after the failure of that movie.

That movie didn’t fail

[Frontier]

That movie didn’t fail

Sure doesn't feel like it succeed though...

[The Cool Thatguy]

Sure doesn't feel like it succeed though...

Well, Harley's character didn't get blamed for the failure, so is that a win?

[OBrianTallent]

Well, Harley's character didn't get blamed for the failure, so is that a win?

Unfortunately as I see it, the failure was due to the very badly written Birds characters. With the exception of Canary who, while not badly written was nothing at all like the actual character. The others...Cass Cain, Renee Montoya and most especially the dismal attempt at the Huntress were the exact reasons the movie bombed.

[Rac7d*]

Sure doesn't feel like it succeed though...

Birds of prey of yeah

Suicide Squad 1
Definitely not
If that’s a failure I bet you WB would love to fail like that right now

[Mantis-Ray]

Unfortunately as I see it, the failure was due to the very badly written Birds characters. With the exception of Canary who, while not badly written was nothing at all like the actual character. The others...Cass Cain, Renee Montoya and most especially the dismal attempt at the Huntress were the exact reasons the movie bombed.

The funny thing the rating prolly had a huge part of why it failed.

Harley's biggest fanbase was with teenage girls, but the movie was r-rated cause of gratuitous violence and to make themselves edgy so it wound up locking them of the huge fanbase of hers.

[Primal Slayer]

Harley is divisive. I was worried about picking her for optics reasons only. I knew lots of people would love it and lots of people would hate it. I thought, from a practical standpoint, she would probably help the overall sales of our first arc, and she really worked for some plot reasons.

I may not want HQ in the lineup but i can appreciate honesty

[Iclifton]

The BOP movie may have not been a financial success but I can guarantee it would have made even LESS money without Harley.

[Mantis-Ray]

The BOP movie may have not been a financial success but I can guarantee it would have made even LESS money without Harley.

Granted it was never a BoP movie to begin with. It was a Harley Quinn movie with the BoP tacked on to give her some characters to interact with. Hell apparently the original intention had the Gotham Sirens in place of the BoP but the WB embargo lead them to changing into the BoP.

So it's not really a BoP movie, it never was. An actual BoP movie most likely would have been made completely different from the film we got.

[Triniking1234]

The BOP movie may have not been a financial success but I can guarantee it would have made even LESS money without Harley.

Most of the effort went into the Harley parts rather than the BoP parts anyway.

[Confuzzled]

Granted it was never a BoP movie to begin with. It was a Harley Quinn movie with the BoP tacked on to give her some characters to interact with. Hell apparently the original intention had the Gotham Sirens in place of the BoP but the WB embargo lead them to changing into the BoP.

So it's not really a BoP movie, it never was. An actual BoP movie most likely would have been made completely different from the film we got.

Which WB embargo? And why was it preventing a Sirens film?

[Triniking1234]

Which WB embargo? And why was it preventing a Sirens film?

There was supposed to be a movie based on the book but they couldn't use Catwoman for some reason and the project became HQ and BoP since they had to pay Margot Robbie for something.