Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)’s title change was done to help improve the film’s ticket sales. Despite riding waves of positive buzz into theaters and receiving excellent reviews, the latest entry in the DCEU stumbled out of the gates at the box office. Birds of Prey posted the lowest opening weekend for any DC adaptation since 2010, grossing just $33 million domestically. Even for a film that had modest expectations coming in, that turn of events was concerning and left people wondering what exactly went wrong.

Looking to rebound from an underwhelming debut, WB requested theater websites display the movie as Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey. This decision moved the film’s main draw, Margot Robbie’s fan-favorite take on Harley Quinn, front and center, taking advantage of the character’s popularity following her role in box office hit Suicide Squad. It’s unusual for a film’s title to be changed at this stage, but the studio is hoping it makes Birds of Prey more appealing to general viewers.

According to The Verge, the decision was motivated by a “search expansion for ticket sites.” It’s worth mentioning the film’s official title remains the full Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn). It has been altered specifically for theater websites and apps as a means of simplifying things for consumers and placing a greater emphasis on the big key terms that will resonate with casual audiences.

Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) is a cheeky, madcap title indicative of the crazed spirit that permeates through the final product. It’s easy to understand why the creative team pushed for that name, but it clearly wasn’t the most practical for marketing purposes. Harley Quinn is by far the most recognizable character in the movie, so logic dictates her name should go first. Granted, one of Robbie’s goals with Birds of Prey was to highlight other compelling female DC characters and she didn’t want Harley to overshadow the rest of the ensemble. That’s admirable, but ended up hurting the film in the long run and forced WB to do a late rebranding in an effort to save face. If there are any future Harley-centric spinoffs, odds are the title will be more focused on her from the jump to avoid a repeat of Birds of Prey’s performance.

It’ll be interesting to see if the Birds of Prey title change has the desired effect. There’s a good chance the film has decent legs, as there isn’t anything coming out targeting the same demographic. Video game adaptation Sonic the Hedgehog opens this weekend, but that’s a family film geared at younger viewers, not an R-rated action film aimed at adults. Perhaps the two will be able to peacefully coexist and post healthy numbers. Fortunately, for WB’s sake, if this is the beginning of Birds of Prey’s decline, its small production budget ensures it won’t go down as a loss - it just won’t be as big a hit as it could have been.

More: Birds of Prey’s Box Office Problems: What DC Got Wrong With the Harley Quinn Movie

Source: The Verge

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