The new year is just around the corner, and it looks like it's going to be another awesome year for comic book movies. The first up in 2020 will be the DCEU’s Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn), starring Margot Robbie back in her dip-dyed pigtails. The movie is now just a few months away from release, with anticipation among fans high, and early projections have the action flick on par with Shazam’s earnings at the domestic box office in its opening weekend.
Current tracking for Birds of Prey has the DC movie debuting in the range of $40 to $60 million during the first weekend of February. Now, depending on how things shake out, Harley Quinn could be facing the lowest opening numbers for a DCEU film to date. The bottom slot is currently occupied by Shazam!, which started its domestic box office run at $53.5 million before going on to earn $363.6 million globally.
Since a second Shazam! was recently given an official 2022 release date, Warner Bros. was clearly happy with its success, and if Birds of Prey repeats these numbers when it goes up to bat in February, the movie could be on its way to turning a profit too. Let’s also keep in mind that the movie, written by Christina Hodson and directed by Cathy Yan, has an estimated production budget of $75 to $85 million, making it the most inexpensive DCEU film to date.
Box Office Pro also projects Birds of Prey to end its domestic box office run with a total between $100 and $150 million in ticket sales – also similar to Shazam!, which finished its stretch on the big screen earning $140 million in North America. These early prognostications don’t exactly scream Harley Quinn and her girl gang breaking any box office records, but the movie could still be a relative hit.
Although 2016’s Suicide Squad didn’t particularly impress fans, Margot Robbie’s Harley was almost indisputably a fan favorite among moviegoers. She’ll be the major selling point of the upcoming release, although the film also introduces Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Huntress, Jurnee Smollett-Bell as Black Canary, Ella Jay Basco as Cassandra Cain, Rosie Perez as Renee Montoya, and Ewan McGregor as Black Mask.
Yet, because the upcoming movie features characters unknown to most audiences, it could perhaps struggle a bit. (Learn all about the DC team with our guide to their comic book characters here). Birds of Prey also hasn’t shared the same big wave of buzz as other 2020 movies like it such as summer’s Wonder Woman 1984 and Black Widow.
Birds of Prey will officially be R-rated, following the success of Todd Phillip’s Joker and Warner Bros’ reported new strategy is to make more comic book movies for an adult audience to counter Marvel’s family-friendly universe. The movie comes out in theaters on February 7, 2020.
Check out what else the new year has to offer with our 2020 movie release calendar!
