Birds of Prey Takes #1 But Flies Short at the Box Office

February 9, 2020

Despite some major Joker Oscar wins tonight, all is not well in the DC Comics world. Although initially projected to earn as high as $45-$55 million, Warner Bros.’ R-rated DC flick Birds of Prey opened soft at #1 with a $33.2 million domestic take. Despite a solid 81% on Rotten Tomatoes and a B+ CinemaScore, the Margot Robbie-led female action comedy was unable to reach the heights of the similarly stylized Deadpool franchise. With costs north of $85 million before P&A, Birds performed more on par with the opening of the second John Wick movie (which cost $40 million)… except that the Harley Quinn character was spinning off of the financial windfall of 2016’s Suicide Squad, which opened to $100 million MORE than Birds with $133 million.

Internationally Birds of Prey brought in $48 million for an $81.2 million worldwide take. Next weekend’s grosses will tell all about whether the film will have legs as it goes up against Sonic the Hedgehog, Fantasy Island and The Photograph. Hopefully 2021’s The Suicide Squad -also featuring Harley- will benefit from the positive audience response to the new film.

Sony’s Bad Boys For Life continued its strong staying power courtesy of Robbie’s Suicide Squad and Focus co-star Will Smith. The action threequel fell one spot to #2, earning $12 million for a $166.3 million domestic total and $336.3 million worldwide.

At #3 is Universal’s 1917, which may not have taken Best Picture tonight but managed to harness awards buzz into an impressive $9 million weekend take (only down 5% from last weekend) for $132.5 million domestically and $287.3 million worldwide.

Universal’s Dolittle also maintained a decent hold with family audiences, dropping only 12% for a $63.9 million domestic take and $158.6 million worldwide.

Sony’s Jumanji: The Next Level held strong at #5 with $5.5 million for a $298.4 million domestic take just shy of $300 million. Worldwide it has taken in $768.4 million, a little less than $200 million short of Welcome to the Jungle‘s $962.1 million, but nonetheless quite a good performer.