Edge of Tomorrow Trends After Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey Updates Its Theater Listings

Birds of Prey suffered a disappointing opening weekend at the box office. Despite landing in the top spot, the film underperformed by earning $33 million. Warner Bros. Pictures decided that being more upfront about what it considers to be the film's biggest draw might help. The film was at first titled Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn). Now it is appearing in theaters as Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey. Time will tell whether rechristening the film has the desired effect. In the meantime, the switch is reminding fans of another movie that went through a name change, the 2014 sci-fi action movie Edge of Tomorrow.

That was its title in theaters, at least. The film, which stars Tom Cruise and Emily Blunt, was titled All You Need is Kill in development, the same as the Japanese light novel that inspired it. Warner Bros. thought the word 'kill" had too negative of a connotation. Director Doug Liman didn't think the title was an accurate reflection of the film.

And so the studio brainstormed a new title. Liman wanted to title the film Live Die Repeat., but Warner Bros. decided to use that as the film's tagline instead. By the time the film hit the home media market, Warner Bros. had it both ways by giving it the name Live Die Repeat: Edge of Tomorrow. Now the film is sometimes referred to as Live Die Repeat alone. The planned sequel will follow the same naming convention with the title Live Die Repeat and Repeat.

Warner Bros. isn't the only studio to attempt this kind of rebranding. When Paul Feig's 2016 Ghostbusters movie didn't hit the mark at theaters, Sony rebranded it for home media as Ghostbusters: Answer the Call.

Birds of Prey is different in that the film is still in theaters, but the goals behind the name change seem to be the same. Here's what fans are saying about it.