How Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey Could Come Back From the Dead This Weekend

Birds of Prey opened in theaters last week and as has been well-publicized, the DC Extended [...]

Birds of Prey opened in theaters last week and as has been well-publicized, the DC Extended Universe film's opening weekend box office numbers haven't been as strong as one might have hoped. While the film did win the weekend, the receipts were a good bit short of what the film was expected to make prompting many to declare the film "disappointing" in some cases or an outright flop in others. However, the Margot Robbie-starring film does still have a lot of things working in its favor and could see a turnaround this weekend.

For starters, Warner Bros. announced on Monday that they were tweaking the title of the film. When it opened in theaters, the film was entitled Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn). It's a fun title, but it's a bit of a mouthful and, to be honest, it buries the lede. With the very popular Harley Quinn character at the center of the film, not highlighting that fact with the title was seen by some experts as a misstep. Casual fans who might be interested in seeing the film if they knew it was a Harley movie could be turned off by a title that barely mentions her. With that in mind, the film got a swap to Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey. It's a title that's less descriptive, but more direct. There will be no confusion about who the story is about now.

While the name change may not seem like a bit deal, there's actually some precedent regarding the impact of a film's name and how it reflects on its content in the eyes of the audience. Back in 2014, the Tom Cruise-starring Edge of Tomorrow hit theaters and, not unlike Birds of Prey, was well-received by critics and audiences, but didn't do that well in theaters. It turns out, the title might have had something to do with it. The film, based on the 2004 novel All You Need Is Kill, tells the story of a man forced to participate in a landing operation against alien invaders. He's quickly killed but is then resurrected in a time loop. Taking advantage of the time loop, the man is able to keep doing the same event over and over until he improves his skills and ultimately defeats the invaders. It's a cool premise, but it's not one that the name Edge of Tomorrow really fits and the rather generic-sounding title was considered a contributing factor to the film's lackluster performance. The film has since been sort of rebranded with the much more fitting tagline of Live Die Repeat taking a more prominent role -- the film is marketed as Live Die Repeat: Edge of Tomorrow on home media.

Now that Birds of Prey has a more fitting title, there's also the idea of good word of mouth for the film to consider as a source of box office bump. Let's be frank: Suicide Squad, the film that first introduced Robbie's Harley Quinn, wasn't great and that's an understatement. The 2016 film was ravaged by critics and didn't do well with audiences either -- it's Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer score sits at a terrible 27 percent and the audience score at 59 percent. While Robbie was one of the standouts of Suicide Squad, it's very possible that some moviegoers were holding off to spend their hard-earned money on a Birds of Prey ticket until a general consensus of the film had come out. And for Birds of Prey, that consensus is good. The film is Certified Fresh at 80 percent and has a solid 81 percent Audience Score to boot. Adding to that, the film has a B+ CinemaScore -- same as Joker, for the record -- and it might just be enough positive response to convince the discerning moviegoer to check things out in the second weekend.

On top of that, the upcoming weekend is Valentine's Day weekend and that itself could be another big reason moviegoers may come out for Birds of Prey. No, we're not saying Birds of Prey is romantic, though some people do love a good action flick on date night. Birds of Prey could be the movie of choice for the anti-Valentine's Day crowd. After all, Harley is broken up from the Joker and the movie is about her emancipation. It seems like a great movie choice for those just not feeling the pink and red candy-coated romance of the holiday. Warner Bros. seems to think that could be the case. There has been at least one new TV spot framing the movie perfect anti-Valentine film.

Ultimately, while there's no denying Birds of Prey didn't get the best box office start, its story is far from over in terms of success. The film has a real chance for a major rebound this weekend and it will be interesting to see just how it all plays out.

Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey is in theaters now.

Did you see Birds of Prey yet? Have you been waiting before giving it a go? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below or hit me up on Twitter to talk all things Birds of Prey!

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