Just a few days after hitting theaters, Birds of Prey (And The Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) has received a new title in movie theater apps that puts the focus on Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn. Directed by Cathy Yan, the marketing for the film pushed the return of Harley and the new female DC characters she'd get to have fun, R-rated adventures with. The movie is responsible for introducing audiences to Black Canary (Jurnee Smollett-Bell), Huntress (Mary Elizabeth Winstead), Cassandra Cain (Ella Jay Basco), and Renee Montoya (Rosie Perez).
As Warner Bros. and DC Films' first release of 2020, it was expected that Birds of Prey would be an early box office success story. On the heels of positive reviews from critics, the likelihood of Birds of Prey exceeding box office projections looked high. But, the film surprisingly had the worst opening for a DC movie in a decade, earning just $33 million this past weekend. After struggling to get audiences to see this new piece of IP from DC, a rebranding might be taking place.
Multiple movie theater chains have started to change Birds of Prey's title online and in their ticket-buying apps. Those hoping to see Birds of Prey (And The Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) will no longer see tickets or showtimes listed with this title. Instead, the title has been shortened and changed to put the film's star upfront and is now Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey. Screen Rant has confirmed that WB mandated theaters to change the name. The change can be seen below in AMC's app thanks to Stitch Kingdom and via a screenshot of Regal's website below:
A new title for Birds of Prey at this stage is a rare occurrence, but it does have precedent. One of the more recent examples came with Tom Cruise's sci-fi/action movie Edge of Tomorrow, which was rebranded as Live Die Repeat after the film's release. In that case, though, the title expanded to be Live Die Repeat: Edge of Tomorrow at different points in the post-release marketing. Those changes were done with the hope of better communicating what the film was about, and that's potentially the same reason why Birds of Prey's title has changed.
The general public might not know who the Birds of Prey are, but Harley Quinn was the lead in a movie that made nearly $750M worldwide. Now, instead of burying the lede that Harley Quinn is in the film, she is the headliner in Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey. This also points to the studios believing that the title is in some way responsible for the box office disappointment. Whether or not that is true remains to be seen, but putting more of a focus on Harley is the smart move to make now. However, there are more aspects to a rebranding than changing the name on movie apps, so new versions of the film with the updated title card could be sent to theaters and change the title for the eventual home release of Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey.
Source: Stitch Kingdom
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