After watching the film, there’s no doubt that “Birds of Prey” is less of a team-up film than it is a straight-up Harley Quinn solo project with a little help from her friends. And with a disastrous box office debut behind it, Warner Bros. is ready to try just about anything to get “Birds of Prey” back on track, even if it means changing the title.
READ MORE: ‘Birds Of Prey’ Fails To Take Flight With Terrible $33M Box Office Opening
As many noticed when they went to their local multiplex’s website, WB has officially changed the title of “Birds of Prey” to “Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey.” The move comes after the film opened with the worst box office debut ever for a DCEU film ($33 million). Will this help the film earn more money, adding ‘Harley Quinn’ to the front of the title? Who knows? But it’s clear that WB thinks one of the major missteps in the marketing of the film is how the studio didn’t push the fact that this is a Harley Quinn movie more than a Birds of Prey film.
That being said, if you saw any of the TV commercials for “Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey,” they always ended with the title cards saying “Harley Quinn in… ‘Birds of Prey’” so it’s not like WB wasn’t pushing Margot Robbie’s character to the forefront before the film debuted. It’s just now the studio is making it official.
Honestly, this is probably a move that should have happened months ago. The entire reason the film exists is based on Robbie’s portrayal of the character that was the clear highlight of David Ayer’s “Suicide Squad.” So, if you’re going to create a Harley Quinn film and call it “Birds of Prey,” isn’t it obvious that maybe that’s a bad idea? While the fandom community probably knew that ‘Birds’ is a Harley Quinn film, there’s a large segment of the population that doesn’t pay attention to such things, sees a listing for “Birds of Prey,” and doesn’t understand that it features their favorite anti-hero from a DC film four years ago.
Ultimately, this title change isn’t going to result in some sort of massive box office boost. If nothing else, it’ll probably attract a few folks that (as mentioned above) missed all the trailers and posters and are intrigued by the name Harley Quinn. But at this point, WB will take all the help it can get.
“Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey” is in theaters now.
Here’s an example of the TV ads mentioned above, touting Harley’s involvement: