Birds of Prey (2020)

Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) (also known as Birds of Prey and later marketed as Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey) is a 2020 American superhero film based on the DC Comics team the Birds of Prey. Produced by Warner Bros. Pictures, DC Films, LuckyChap Entertainment, Clubhouse Pictures, and Kroll & Co. Entertainment, the film is the eighth installment in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) and a follow-up/spin-off to the 2016 film Suicide Squad, and is directed by Cathy Yan and written by Christina Hodson. Birds of Prey stars Margot Robbie, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Jurnee Smollett-Bell, Rosie Perez, Chris Messina, Ella Jay Basco, Ali Wong, and Ewan McGregor, and follows Harley Quinn, who, after breaking up with the Joker, is threatened by Gotham City crime lord Roman Sionis, and joins forces with Helena Bertinelli, Dinah Lance and Renee Montoya (who go on to form the Birds of Prey) to save Cassandra Cain.
Robbie, who also serves as producer, pitched the idea for Birds of Prey to Warner Bros. Pictures in 2015. The film was announced in May 2016; Hodson was hired to write the script that November, while Yan signed on to direct in April 2018. The majority of the cast and crew were confirmed by December 2018. Principal photography lasted from January to April 2019 and took place in Downtown Los Angeles, parts of the Arts District, Los Angeles, and soundstages at Warner Bros. Studios, Burbank in Burbank, California. Additional filming took place in September 2019.
Birds of Prey was the first DCEU film and the second DC Films production to be rated R by the Motion Picture Association of America, following Joker. The film had its world premiere in Mexico City on January 25, 2020, and was released in the United States in IMAX, Dolby Cinema, ScreenX and 4DX on February 7, 2020 by Warner Bros. Pictures. It grossed $205 million worldwide, falling short of its widely reported break-even point of $250–300 million. The film received mostly positive reviews from critics, who praised its fast-paced action and Robbie's performance as Quinn. A spin-off focused on Smollett-Bell's character is in development.
==Plot==
Harley Quinn narrates the events of her life: four years after the Enchantress' defeat, the Joker breaks up with Harley, throwing her out on the streets of Gotham City. She is taken in by Doc, the elderly owner of a Chinese restaurant. Recovering from her abusive relationship with the Joker, Harley cuts her hair, adopts a spotted hyena (whom she names after Bruce Wayne), takes up roller derby, and blows up the Ace Chemicals plant where she pledged herself to the Joker.
At a nightclub owned by gangster Roman Sionis, Harley cripples Roman's driver and meets burlesque singer Dinah Lance. Dinah later rescues an intoxicated Harley from an attempted abduction. Impressed by Dinah's skills, Roman appoints her as his new driver. GCPD Detective Renee Montoya investigates a series of mob killings carried out by a crossbow-wielding killer. Finding Harley's necklace at the scene of the Ace Chemicals explosion, Montoya notes that Harley is in danger without the Joker's protection. She approaches Dinah about informing on Roman, but Dinah rebuffs her.
Roman sends Dinah and Victor Zsasz, his sadistic right-hand-man, to retrieve a diamond embedded with the account numbers to the fortune of the Bertinelli crime family, who were massacred years ago. Young pickpocket Cassandra Cain steals the diamond from Zsasz, but is arrested and swallows the diamond. Harley, fleeing from Montoya and several other people she has wronged, is captured by Roman's men. Zsasz informs Roman that Cassandra has the diamond, and Dinah warns Montoya about Cass. As Roman prepares to have Harley killed, she offers to recover the diamond for him. Roman agrees, but also places a bounty on Cass. Breaking into the GCPD with a variety of non-lethal grenade launcher rounds, Harley frees Cass, who flees to the evidence warehouse. Ambushed by goons seeking Cass' bounty, Harley kills them after inhaling impounded cocaine. She and Cass bond while hiding out at Harley's apartment.
Doc is approached for information by the "crossbow killer", who is revealed to be Helena Bertinelli. Having survived her family's massacre and becoming trained as an assassin, Helena has been targeting the mobsters who killed her family. Harley's apartment is bombed by criminals looking for Cass; it is revealed that Doc sold Harley out. Harley calls Roman and offers to turn Cass over in exchange for his protection, agreeing to meet at an abandoned amusement park. Dinah notifies Montoya of the meeting, but Zsasz notices her text message en route to the park and informs Roman. Devastated by Dinah's betrayal, Roman dons his black mask—from which he gets his villain name, Black Mask. At the park, Montoya confronts Harley but is knocked out of a window. Zsasz arrives and tranquilizes Harley before holding Dinah at gunpoint. He is killed by Helena, who reveals Zsasz was the last of her family's killers.
Montoya returns and a stand-off ensues, until the women realize Roman has arrived with a small army of masked criminals. Using Harley's old gear, the women fight off Roman's goons. Cass is captured by Roman, and Montoya is shot but saved by Harley's bulletproof bustier. Dinah reveals her metahuman ability to scream at a supersonic level, allowing Harley to give chase on roller skates. Assisted by Helena and her motorcycle, Harley pursues Roman and Cass to a nearby pier, where Cass plants a grenade on Roman, killing him.
In the aftermath of destroying Roman's criminal empire, Montoya quits the GCPD and joins Dinah and Helena in becoming vigilantes – the Birds of Prey – with the money from the accounts inside the diamond, which Harley pawns to start her own business with Cassandra. In a post-credits audio scene, Harley is about to reveal a secret about Batman to the audience, but the film ends mid-sentence.
==Cast==
*Margot Robbie as Harleen Quinzel / Harley Quinn
*Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Helena Bertinelli / Huntress
*Jurnee Smollett-Bell as Dinah Laurel Lance / Black Canary
*Rosie Perez as Renee Montoya
*Chris Messina as Victor Zsasz
*Ella Jay Basco as Cassandra Cain
*Ali Wong as Ellen Yee
*Ewan McGregor as Roman Sionis / Black Mask
Additionally, Steven Williams portrays Captain Patrick Erickson, Montoya's superior at the GCPD; Dana Lee portrays Doc, Quinn's friend who owns a Chinese restaurant; François Chau portrays Mr. Keo, a rival crime boss of Sionis; Derek Wilson portrays Tim Evans; Matt Willig portrays Happy; and Bojana Novakovic portrays as Erika, a night club patron who gets harrassed by Sionis. Charlene Amoia and Paul Lasa portray Maria and Franco Bertinelli, the mother and father of Helena, respectively, while Robert Catrini portrays Stefano Galante, the mob boss who killed the Bertinelli family. Talon Reid portrays one of Black Mask's henchmen. The Joker appears in the film, through animated-special effects during a flashback sequence, as well as through the combined use of archive footage of Jared Leto from Suicide Squad and a body-double on set. This was done this way since Leto was not available for filming. Jai Courtney appears as George "Digger" Harkness / Captain Boomerang, through the use of a still photograph in the Gotham City Police Department. The reference was added to the film, for additional connections to The Suicide Squad.
==Marketing==
Marketing began on January 21, 2019, when a first-look production video of the characters and costumes titled "See You Soon" was released by Warner Bros. via YouTube. DC Comics published a promotional trade paperback anthology featuring stories based on the film on November 12, 2019. The first teaser debuted exclusively in theatres on September 5, 2019, in front of screenings for It: Chapter Two, with Quinn stating that she is "over clowns" while popping a red balloon, in a collective reference to It / Pennywise the Dancing Clown and the Joker.
A short teaser was released on the film's social media pages, announcing the first official trailer would be released on October 1, 2019. A series of posters, which also announced the trailer debut, was released the same day. On December 5, 2019, Birds of Prey held a panel at the annual CCXP in Brazil, showing the first five minutes of the film, and the second official trailer, which was released online on January 9, 2020.
A three-day pop-up event named Harleywood was also organized at the Hollywood and Highland Center with the presence of the cast on the launch day. Artists who contributed to the soundtrack were also present to promote the event, with Charlotte Lawrence and Doja Cat performing.
==Release==
Warner Bros. Pictures released Birds of Prey theatrically in the United States on February 7, 2020, in standard, IMAX, Dolby Cinema, 4DX, and ScreenX formats. The film had its world premiere on January 25, 2020, at the Proyecto Publico Prim in Mexico City. It also screened at the BFI IMAX in London on January 29 and at the Palais des Festivals in Cannes on January 30, during a special event named Le Festival de Quinn (The Quinn Festival) in reference to the Cannes Film Festival. On February 10, 2020, it was reported that the film was being displayed under the title Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey on the websites for AMC Theatres, Cinemark Theatres, and Regal Cinemas. According to Screen Rant, the name change was mandated by Warner Bros. However, TheWrap subsequently reported that "an individual with knowledge at the studio" denied that Warner Bros. had revised the title and quoted Atom Tickets' Alisha Grauso's explanation that the new listing was "apparently for display/search purposes only for vendors and theaters, not an official title change."
==Box Office==
Birds of Prey grossed $84.2 million in the United States and Canada, and $120.1 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $205.3 million. According to Variety, the film needed to gross $250–300 million worldwide to break even. The low start in North American markets was blamed on the possible lack of demand for a solo film surrounding the character of Harley Quinn, as well as the confusing title and the R rating limiting the appeal and demographics for ticket sales. The low opening in overseas territories, meanwhile, was blamed on similar audience hesitation as in the United States and the COVID-19 pandemic in Asia closing some theaters.
Yan acknowledged the film's unsatisfactory box office performance and reflected, "There were also [undue] expectations on a female-led movie, and what I was most disappointed in was this idea that perhaps it proved that we weren't ready for this yet. That was an extra burden that, as a woman-of-color director, I already had on me anyway. So, yes, I think there were certainly different ways you could interpret the success or lack of success of the movie, and everyone has a right to do that. But, I definitely do feel that everyone was pretty quick to jump on a certain angle."
==Critical reception==
Birds of Prey received positive reviews from critics. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 79% based on 432 reviews, with an average rating of 6.8/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "With a fresh perspective, some new friends, and loads of fast-paced action, Birds of Prey captures the colorfully anarchic spirit of Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn." On Metacritic, it has a weighted average score of 60 out of 100, based on 59 critic reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale, and PostTrak reported it received an average of 3.5 out of 5 stars, with 61% of people surveyed saying they would definitely recommend it.
==Future==
Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn returned in The Suicide Squad (2021). In April 2020, Cathy Yan said that she would be interested in directing a sequel that would explore Harley Quinn's relationship with Poison Ivy. In February 2021, Robbie discussed working on another project featuring Quinn with The Suicide Squad director James Gunn, and both she and Leslie Grace expressed interest in a crossover between Quinn and Barbara Gordon / Batgirl, whom Grace was originally set to play in the 2022 unreleased film Batgirl and is a prominent Birds of Prey member in the comics. Gunn indicated in September 2022 to be involved in a future project involving Robbie's Quinn.
In August 20, 2021, Cinelinx reported that a Black Canary solo spin-off film was in development with Smollett returning as Lance and Misha Green will write the film for HBO Max. Set photos reveal that visual references to the character was set to be made in Batgirl before its cancellation.
==Videos==
===Trailers===
thumb|left|225 px|Official Trailer 1
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