Despite strong reviews, Cathy Yan’s Birds of Prey is falling short at the domestic box office, at least when compared to the previous seven releases from Warner’s DC Extended Universe.
The Wrap reports that Harley Quinn’s latest big screen outing grossed just $13 million domestically on Friday, and is on course to earn a total of $34 million in its first weekend. This would be the lowest opening for a DC adaptation since 2010’s Jonah Hex, which managed just $5.3 million in its first three days, and the lowest of any DCEU entry to date.
In the lead-up to this weekend, trackers were projecting an opening haul of $55 million, while Warner Bros. offered a more conservative forecast of $45 million. With the film falling below expectations though, it’s now looking like Birds of Prey may not even pass $100 million domestically in its entire run.
Worldwide, Yan’s flick has so far grossed a reported total of $31.1 million. Given the film’s estimated budget of $85-95 million, this is hardly a disastrous figure to see after one day, though it does mean the movie will need some serious legs to catch up with even some of the lowest grossing entries in the DCEU, such as Shazam!, which managed $364.6 million worldwide last year.
All in all, while Birds of Prey is unlikely to go down as one of the biggest flops in a year that’s already brought us Dolittle, its performance certainly pales in comparison to that of the last R-rated DC movie to star a psychotic criminal in flamboyant makeup.
Though the relative lack of competition this month could help the film stay afloat a while, it looks like DC’s real box office hope of 2020 will be Wonder Woman 1984, which is set to hit theaters on June 5th.