Birds Of Prey Box Office Doubles Its Production Budget Globally

The Birds of Prey movie--or Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey, depending on what your cinema is calling it--is closing in on box office milestone. The movie added another $4 million in North America this weekend and more from international markets to push the movie's total to $188.38 million globally, meaning it should reach $200 million over the next weekend or two.

Birds of Prey is 2020's fourth biggest movie so far, trailing Sonic the Hedgehog ($265 million), 1917 ($362 million), and Bad Boys for Life ($405 million) in terms of global box office results.

According to reports, Birds of Prey carried a gross budget of $97 million, but that came down to $84 million thanks to tax credits in California, where the movie was filmed. Some sources dispute this, as Variety reported that the budget was actually closer to $100 million "due to elaborate sets and CGI."

The box office results for Birds of Prey so far are about $100 million ahead of the reported production budget, but the figure does not include marketing expenses, which were surely substantial.

Birds of Prey may end up making the lowest amount of money for a DC Extended Universe movie, but it's production budget was also the smallest. The budgets for Man of Steel, Batman v Superman, Suicide Squad, Wonder Woman, Justice League, Aquaman, and Shazam! were all in excess of $100 million.

According to Variety, Birds of Prey will need to make $100 million in North America and $300 million worldwide to break even. Other sources told the site that the breakeven number is around $250 million globally. Looking at the numbers that way, if they are indeed correct, Birds of Prey may struggle to break even, as the movie currently stands at $78.8 million in North America and $188 million worldwide.

Unlike previous DCEU movies, Birds of Prey has no release scheduled for China, which is the world's second largest movie market. It is indeed a massive market, as Wonder Woman made $90.5 million from China, while Aquaman reached $291 million there.

Several movie theatre chains changed the name of Birds of Prey to Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey in an attempt to drum up more interest in the movie. The movie's official title remains Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn).