Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn.
Claudette Barius/Warner Bros.
Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice showed that even trash superhero movies can draw big money. So it’s unfortunate that Birds of Prey, which by most accounts is not trash, is underperforming at the box office. The film made $81.25 million during its opening weekend, according to BoxOffice Mojo — well under the $110 million that Deadline reports it was projected to make.
Birds of Prey, a film that follows Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn, grossed $33.25 million in the US and $48 million in international markets. That’s not a disaster. Though under projections, $81 million makes back much of the film’s estimated $84 million budget. But it pales in comparison to the opening weekends of previous DC flicks like Wonder Woman and Suicide Squad, which raked in $223 million and $267 million, respectively.
It’s also the first film in the DC Extended Universe that’s rated R. (Joker was a DC film but not part of the DCEU. It made over $1 billion despite its R rating.) Shazam, the most recent film in the DCEU, grossed $158 million globally during its opening weekend.
Though it may underperform at the box office, Birds of Prey has received more critical acclaim than many films in the DCEU. Most reviews on Metacritic are positive, something that films like Batman v Superman and Suicide Squad can’t claim. CNET’s Sean Keane decreed it “among the DC Extended Universe’s finest movies so far.”