Birds Of Prey Gets New Title After Its Poor Start At The Box Office

In an attempt to draw in new viewers, the new DC Comics movie Birds of Prey has changed its name following its slow start at the box office. The movie is changing its theatrical name from Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) to Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey, according to GameSpot sister site ComicBook.com. Note that this is only the theatrical name; the official title remains the same.

The name change is already visible through major American ticket-sellers like Regal Cinemas and AMC Theatres, though Warner Bros. has yet to officially comment on the change. The change is reportedly meant to boost SEO and generally make the film more recognizable. (It's also not the only movie to change its name post-release, although it is very uncommon.)

Birds of Prey star Margot Robbie, who plays Harley Quinn and is also a producer on the movie, recently foreshadowed this change in an appearance on the Hot Ones podcast.

Asked what the most nerve-wracking part of being a producer is, Robbie said it's watching the first-week box office numbers come in, because at that point, there is almost nothing you can do to improve the fortunes of a film. A marketing change might help things, but it might not be enough, she said. This very marketing change is now happening.

"The most nerve-wracking ... probably the box office," she said. "At that point, you can't do anything anymore. You can pivot your marketing strategy a little bit but really there's not a lot you can do. You just hope people like it. You and so many people have spent so much time on something that you just want people to like it, or even see it."

Birds of Prey, which is an R-rated movie, opened to $33.2 million in the US, which is many millions below projections. It's the worst start in the history of the DCEU movie franchise, but that's not a great comparison as Birds of Prey is also the first R-rated movie in the DCEU.

Birds of Prey's slow start came as a surprise, as the movie fared well with critics and carries a strong B+ CinemaScore rating.

In GameSpot's review of Birds of Prey, Meg Downey said, "It's the sort of kinetic, high energy romp that comes with built-in replay value, and proves exactly why Harley Quinn has become such an endearing, beloved character in the pop-culture pantheon. If this is the direction the DCEU is headed, the future's looking bright."

For more on Birds of Prey, find out more about the ending of the movie, whether or not Joker is in the movie, and the connection to Harley's first appearance in Suicide Squad.