Birds of Prey - 82% RT, and good audience reception

[Moren]

Jaicee said:

Angelus said:

I'm not sure if blaming the commercial failure of this movie on Suicide Squad is really appropriate here. For all the problems people had with that movie, if there was one positive, it's that people generally came away really liking Margot's Harley Quinn, and outside of her, BoP - far as I can tell - really has no other connection to Suicide Squad. WB also made a few generally well received DC movies since then, so the general audience should feel more comfortable going to see a DC movie now than they would have been in the immediate aftermath of Suicide Squad.

Suicide Squad 2 is releasing next summer, and I wouldn't be at all surprised - whether it's earned or not - if that movie does significantly better numbers than BoP, despite actually bearing the full brunt of the negative name recognition.

Eh, you might be right. I drew the connection to Suicide Squad because of the character Harley Quinn, like others here and elsewhere are. Everyone compares this movie against Suicide Squad and the fact that they both have the same main character is definitely the reason. Nonetheless, perhaps the term "sequel" is too literal to be appropriate in the light of a proper Suicide Squad 2 releasing in the near future, like you say.

Still, I can't think of a better explanation for these numbers than the combination of that connection (Birds of Prey's aforementioned connection to Suicide Squad in people's minds) on the one hand and the fact that, like I said before, it's not truly a masterpiece in its own right either, on the other, especially considering that, like it or not, Birds of Prey's small audience has generally liked it better than Suicide Squad by all indications.

I don't know - I think marketing had a lot to do with it. I had no idea this was releasing until the week of. Plus, Birds of Prey in itself is a less catchy title than Harley Quinn, that's why they tried to rebrand it.