When Birds of Prey landed with a thud at the box office in February, forcing Warner Bros. to almost immediately change the title for marketing purposes in the hopes that Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn would be enough to draw in audiences who weren’t entirely sure what the movie was supposed to be, it looked like a total washout for both the studio and the DCEU.
A global haul of $201 million made it the lowest-earning installment in the shared superhero universe by quite some distance, but one small positive is that it was half as expensive to produce as the majority of comic book blockbusters, so Birds of Prey still managed to turn a profit theatrically, before strong digital and VOD sales kept it firmly in the black.
However, little did we know that the Coronavirus pandemic would change the world as we knew it, reducing the release schedule to a barren wasteland, and following the news that Wonder Woman 1984 will debut simultaneously on the big screen and HBO Max, Birds of Prey now stands a very real chance of ending 2020 as the highest-grossing comic book movie of the year. Fans have already claimed the title, in fact, and you can check out what they’re saying down below.
birds of prey trending once again pic.twitter.com/AC3CbCIAiE
— Wholesome Drea 51🕸50 (@LifesNotFlair) December 3, 2020
Birds of Prey highest grossing CBM of 2020pic.twitter.com/rX6I4PADY5
— damian⊗ (@damcanary) December 3, 2020
The way we weren't kidding a year ago when we said Birds of Prey will change the movie industry forever 😭😭 pic.twitter.com/fWm5JoV3t3
— Chase (@ChaseStein_) December 3, 2020
the last movie that i watched in the cinema was Birds Of Prey back in February, i loved it 🙂 pic.twitter.com/EPsFjleuwT
— Luke (@qLxke_) December 3, 2020
https://twitter.com/cedalimun/status/1334579437539631106?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1334579437539631106%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fcomicbook.com%2Fdc%2Fnews%2Ftwitter-celebrates-birds-of-prey-possibly-becoming-the-highest-grossing-comic-book-movie-2020%2F
Haven’t tweeted about it in a while but since I just picked up the 4K of it the other day, casual reminder that Birds of Prey is one of the best CBMs ever made.
Deserves all the praise it gets and I’m still hoping we get a sequel or HBO Max show one day. pic.twitter.com/LnNKXOnFY2
— jacob. (@jtimsuggs) November 29, 2020
if birds of prey was the last movie i'll ever seen in a theatre i'm totally okay with that pic.twitter.com/CyduFVjsaA
— sam carpenter stan 🍉 (@goremances) December 3, 2020
https://twitter.com/filmrvbbie/status/1334603706289934336?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1334603706289934336%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fcomicbook.com%2Fdc%2Fnews%2Ftwitter-celebrates-birds-of-prey-possibly-becoming-the-highest-grossing-comic-book-movie-2020%2F
BIRDS OF PREY THEATRICAL RE RELEASE 2022 MAKE A PLAN https://t.co/DJXaRA2I93
— Jordan Crucchiola (@JorCru) December 3, 2020
https://twitter.com/wandasflash/status/1332531260997046272?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1332531260997046272%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fcomicbook.com%2Fdc%2Fnews%2Ftwitter-celebrates-birds-of-prey-possibly-becoming-the-highest-grossing-comic-book-movie-2020%2F
https://twitter.com/harleeenmonroe/status/1334572857523904513?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1334572857523904513%7Ctwgr%5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fcomicbook.com%2Fdc%2Fnews%2Ftwitter-celebrates-birds-of-prey-possibly-becoming-the-highest-grossing-comic-book-movie-2020%2F
How I sleep knowing Birds Of Prey became an instant cult classic this year pic.twitter.com/MyX0ueZa0g
— Harley Quinn Updates (@HarleyMovieNews) November 25, 2020
Things have been so dire at the box office that Robert Downey Jr.’s Dolittle is still the fifth highest-grossing title of the year, despite bombing spectacularly when it arrived back in January. And as it stands, Wonder Woman 1984 is the only competition that Birds of Prey faces for holding on to the crown of 2020’s must lucrative comic book movie, because the number two position is occupied by The New Mutants, which failed to even crack $50 million worldwide.