Birds of Prey

Birds of Prey (and The Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn)[a] is a 2020 American superhero film directed by Cathy Yan and written by Christina Hodson, based on the DC Comics team, Birds of Prey. Warner Bros., DC Films, LuckyChap Entertainment, Clubhouse Pictures, and Kroll & Co. Produced by Entertainment, it is the eighth installment in the DC Extended Universe (DCEU) and serves as a spin-off and sequel to Suicide Squad (2016) starring Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Journey Smollett-Bell, Rosie Perez, Chris Messina, Ella Jay Basco , starring Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn alongside Ali Wong and Ewan McGregor. The film 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 would go on to form Birds of Prey) to protect Cassandra. Cain.

Robbie, who also served as producer, pitched the idea to Warner Bros. for Birds of Prey in 2015. The film was announced in May 2016, with Hodgson hired to write the script in November, with Ian signing on to direct in April. 2018. Most of the cast and crew were confirmed by December 2018. Principal photography took place from January to April 2019 in downtown Los Angeles, parts of the Los Angeles Arts District, and the soundstage at Warner Bros. Studios in Burbank, California. Additional filming took place in September 2019.

Released

The film had its world premiere in Mexico City on January 25, 2020, and was released in IMAX, Dolby Cinema, ScreenX and 4DX in the United States on February 7, 2020. The film received generally positive reviews from critics and grossed $205.3 million worldwide , falls short of the stated break-even point of $250-300 million.

Details

Four years after the Enchantress’ defeat, [b] the Joker breaks up with Harley Quinn, leaving her on the streets of Gotham City. Doc, the owner of a Taiwanese restaurant, takes her in and recovers from the affair by cutting her hair, adopting a spotted hyena, and taking up roller derby.

Harley gets drunk in a nightclub owned by ruthless crime lord Roman Sionis and cripples his driver after insulting him. He meets burlesque singer Dinah Lance, who later rescues an intoxicated Harley from an attempted kidnapping. Impressed by Dina’s fighting skills, Sionis hires her as his new driver. The next night, Harley gets drunk again, and after hearing some of her drinking buddies wondering if she has actually broken up with the Joker, blows up the Ace Chemicals plant to publicly announce their breakup. When everyone learns that he is no longer under the Joker’s protection, Harley begins to be attacked by every criminal who previously harbored a grudge against him.

Meanwhile, GCPD Detective Renee Montoya is investigating a series of mob killings carried out by crossbow-wielding vigilantes. He tries to recruit Dina as an informant, but she declines the offer, as the GCPD was not there to prevent her mother’s death. Sionis sends Dinah and her sadistic right-hand man Victor Zasaj to retrieve a diamond embedded with account numbers for the fortune of the Bertinelli crime family, who were massacred years ago. Young pickpocket Cassandra “Cass” Cain steals a diamond from Jasaj and swallows it after he is arrested.

Harley, fleeing from Montoya and several others, is captured by Sionis’s men. Sionis sends Hurley to retrieve the diamond for him, under threat of death, and also places a bounty on Cassandra. Entering the GCPD with a grenade launcher loaded with paint and sparkle rounds, Harley frees Cassandra and the pair to escape. While hiding out in Harley’s apartment, they bond. Doc is contacted for information by the “Crossbow Killer”, who is revealed to be Helena Bertinelli. After surviving her family’s murder and being trained as an assassin, Helena targets every gangster responsible for her family’s murder, preferring the title “Huntress”. Cassandra is later sought out by the criminals at Harley’s place, and Doc admits that he sold Harley out. Harley calls Sionis and offers to return him in exchange for his protection, agreeing to meet at an abandoned amusement park. Dina informs Montoya of the rendezvous, but her treachery is noticed by Zass, who informs Sionis. A devastated Sionis wears his ritual mask from which he derives his nickname, “Black Mask”.

At the park, Montoya confronts Harley, but is thrown out a window. Jesus arrives and calms Harley down before holding her at gunpoint, but is killed by Helena, who reveals that she was among the last of her family’s killers. Montoya returns and reveals that Sionis was the real mastermind behind the Bertinellis massacre. He killed them trying to get the diamond. A standoff ensues until they realize Sionis has brought a small army of masked criminals. Using Harley’s old gear, the makeshift team of five women intercepts and repels the attack. During the battle, Cassandra is captured by Sionis, while Dinah unleashes her metahuman abilities of supersonic-level screaming, defeating several mobsters. Harley gives chase on roller skates, and with Helena’s help, the pair chase Sionis. At a nearby pier, Sionis prepares to kill Cassandra, who pulls the ring from a grenade he took from Harley’s weapons chest. Harley throws him off the pier just before the grenade explodes, tearing him apart.

After destroying Sionis’ criminal empire, Montoya quits the GCPD. Using money from an account hidden inside the diamond, Helena joins Dinah and Montoya in forming a vigilante group called the Birds of Prey. Harley and Cassandra escape, sell the diamond itself to a pawn shop, and start their own business.

Cast and characters

Further information: List of DC Extended Universe cast members and DC Extended Universe characters
Margot Robbie as Dr. Harleen Quinzel / Harley Quinn: A former certified psychiatrist who is a criminal lunatic and associate/girlfriend of the Joker and later a part of the Suicide Squad. She broke up with the Joker after the pair broke up. Screenwriter Christina Hodson wanted to reinvent Harley, expanding the character after her departure from the Joker’s company. Hodgson called Harley the character he enjoyed the most because of his unpredictable personality.
Mary Elizabeth Winstead as Helena Bertinelli / The Huntress: A vigilante who is the orphaned daughter of gangster Franco Bertinelli. Ella Mika portrays a young Helena during flashback scenes.
Jurney Smollett-Bell as Dinah Lance / Black Canary: A vigilante with the metahuman ability of hypersonic screams, which she inherited from her mother. He is a singer in a club owned by Sionis. Smollett-Bell describes Dinah as “removed and cut off from the world” and someone who “really doesn’t want anything to do with fighting crime or doing a good deed, which is against her nature because we know Dinah has to be. All heart. ” The actress added that she became a fan of Black Canary after playing the character in the video game Injustice 2, which influenced how she physically portrayed the hypersonic scream.
Rosie Perez as Renee Montoya: An alcoholic, cynical detective in the Gotham City Police Department (GCPD), who builds a case against Sionis.
Chris Messina as Victor Jasaj: A deranged mob killer and dedicated henchman of Sionis who creates a tally mark on his skin for each victim he claims.
Ella Jay Basco as Cassandra Cain: A young pickpocket, from whom Sionis places a bounty on his head after stealing a valuable diamond.
Ali Wong as Ellen Ye: Montoya’s ex-girlfriend and Gotham City’s district attorney.
Ewan McGregor as Roman Sionis / Black Mask: A brutal, self-absorbed crime lord and head of the Sionis crime family who threatens Cassandra and Harley. McGregor described the character as “an absolute narcissist”.
Additionally, Steven Williams portrays Captain Patrick Erickson, Montoya’s superior at the GCPD; Dana Lee portrays Doc, Quinn’s friend who owns a Taiwanese restaurant; Francois Chau plays Mr. Who, a rival crime boss of Sionis; Derek Wilson plays GCPD Detective Tim Munroe; Matt Willig portrays Happy, a chicken who formerly worked for the Joker and Stefano Galante and who has Quinn and the Joker tattooed on his face; and Bojana Novakovic portrays Erika, a nightclub patron who is sexually assaulted by Sionis. Charlene Amoia and Paul Lassa play Maria and Franco Bertinelli, Helena’s mother and father, respectively; Robert Caterini plays Stefano Galante, the mob boss who killed the Bertinelli family;

The Joker appears in the film via animated special effects during a flashback sequence and a combined use of an archived back shot of Suicide Squad’s Jared Leto and rock musician Johnny Goth doubling for Leto in a brief flashback sequence. These techniques were used because Leto was not available during filming. A still image of Jai Courtney as George “Digger” Harkness/Captain Boomerang is also displayed on a wall at the Gotham City Police Department.

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 will need to gross $250-300 million worldwide to break even.

In the United States and Canada, Birds of Prey was initially estimated to gross $50–55 million from 4,236 theaters in its opening weekend. However, after making $13 million on its first day, including $4 million from Thursday night previews, estimates were lowered, and it debuted at $33 million. The film finished first at the box office but marked the lowest opening for a DC film since 2010’s Jonah Hex ($5.3 million) and was 75% smaller than Suicide Squad’s $133.4 million opening in 2016. The low opening was attributed to a possible lack of demand for a single film surrounding the character of Harley Quinn, as well as the confusing title and R rating limiting ticket sales appeal and demographics. In its second weekend, the film dropped 48% to $17.1 million, finishing second behind Sonic the Hedgehog and then earning $7 million in third, a further 59% drop.

The film was expected to debut to $60-70 million from 76 countries in other territories, for a worldwide total of $110-125 million. It earned $7.8 million after two days of foreign release in 51 countries and $18.1 million from 76 after three. The film grossed $46 million in international play and $79 million worldwide in its opening weekend. Its top grossing territories are Mexico ($4.6 million), Russia ($4 million), United Kingdom ($3.9 million), Brazil ($2.8 million) and France ($2.7 million). The low opening was attributed to a similar audience dilemma as the Covid-19 pandemic closed some theaters in the US and Asia.

Ian acknowledged the film’s disappointing box office performance and reflected, “There were [undue] expectations even on a female-led film, and I was most disappointed with the idea that maybe it just proved that we weren’t ready for it yet. It’s an overload. was that, as a woman-of-color director, I was already on me. So, yes, I think there are definitely different ways you can interpret the success or lack of a movie, and everyone has a right to do that. But, I definitely feel that Everyone was too quick to jump at a certain angle.”

About

Directed by	Cathy Yan
Written by	Christina Hodson
Based on	Characters from DC
Produced by	·         Margot Robbie ·         Bryan Unkeless ·         Sue Kroll
Starring	·         Margot Robbie ·         Mary Elizabeth Winstead ·         Jurnee Smollett-Bell ·         Rosie Perez ·         Chris Messina ·         Ella Jay Basco ·         Ali Wong ·         Ewan McGregor
Cinematography	Matthew Libatique
Edited by	·         Jay Cassidy ·         Evan Schiff
Music by	Daniel Pemberton
Production companies	·         Warner Bros. Pictures ·         DC Films ·         LuckyChap Entertainment ·         Clubhouse Pictures ·         Kroll & Co. Entertainment
Distributed by	Warner Bros. Pictures
Release dates	·         January 25, 2020 (Mexico City) ·         February 7, 2020 (United States)
Running time	109 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$82–100 million
Box office	$205.3 million

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