9 Recent Movies Sent Out To Die
6. Birds Of Prey (And The Fantabulous Emancipation Of One Harley Quinn)
Birds of Prey had a lot going for it that should have made it one of the year's biggest movies. Specifically, it had Margot Robbie in her return performance as Harley Quinn, but Warner Bros. failed to properly convey to casual audiences that this would be the Harley Quinn film.
Marketing began in January 2019, and between then and the release date, WB admittedly didn't skimp. There were all sorts of promotional materials and clips laid out for a full year to try and bring viewers in to watch the movie, which wasn't half bad, according to critics and its 78% Rotten Tomatoes score.
The title of the film cannot be underestimated as an issue though. It was part of the problem with online ticket sales, and while Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) makes perfect sense with the narrative, it confused would-be moviegoers. The title was changed (sort of) following the first weekend of release.
Instead of that word salad, ticket sales were changed to "Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey." This made the title pop up in more search engine results, which was a problem for digital ticket sales. Unfortunately, the change may have been too little, too late, as Birds of Prey fell nearly $100 million short of its break-even point.