Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) is the first major superhero movie of 2020 and it looks set to kick off in style this weekend. While the movie will have to compete with Sunday night's Academy Awards,
The Hollywood Reporter expects it to earn $50 million.
That may not be up there with other Marvel and DC movie openings, but
Birds of Prey has been receiving extremely positive reviews and word of mouth should help this one in a big way.
Overseas, Warner Bros. is expecting the DC Comics adaptation to earn upwards of $60 million this weekend and with a production budget of only $80 million - $90 million, the Margot Robbie-led release has all the makings of a box office hit for the studio.
Sonic the Hedgehog and
Fantasy Island arrive over next week's Presidents Day weekend, but they may not pose much of a threat.
The similarly R-Rated
Deadpool broke records back in 2016 with a $132.4 million debut, while
Black Panther followed two years later with $202 million. Those were very different beasts, though, and comparing them might not make much sense.
Will you guys be watching
Birds of Prey this weekend?
Click on the "Next" button below to take a look
through some of the reviews for Birds of Prey!
Jumbled plotting aside, Cathy Yan and Christina Hodson's 'Birds of Prey' is a delightfully entertaining showcase for Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn and the rest of her anti-heroic gal pals. (8/10)
SOURCE: Forbes
This whole film is a femme-fatale meet-and-greet which detoxifies the recent spree of male-dominated skulkings around Gotham City. It has gangster's moll energy where the molls take over. (3/5)
SOURCE: Daily Telegraph
It's relentless, hyperactive, and viciously entertaining. Just like Harley herself. (4/5)
SOURCE: Total Film
Thankfully, Robbie's shining performance cuts through the murk like a neon sign in a dark alleyway.
SOURCE: Mashable
Cathy Yan lets her heroine's mania guide her through a story that's scrappy, weird and ultimately fun as hell. (4/5)
SOURCE: Time Out
Birds of Prey's freedom to discard the classic superhero story is a freedom well won.
SOURCE: Polygon
It's all as tasty, chewy and disposable as bubble gum.
SOURCE: Los Angeles Times
DC Comics fans have been waiting years and years for a great Harley Quinn solo movie, and here they get it... albeit it's packaged inside a more so-so Birds of Prey movie. (3/5)
SOURCE: Cinema Blend
Cathy Yan has created a music-infused celebration of female badassery. (8/10)
SOURCE: We Live Entertainment
Some pacing issues aside, Birds of Prey is a neon-blood-soaked, funny, violent, anti-hero caper. It manages to be authentic without being heavy-handed, and happily obliterates the male gaze in a technicolour firework display. (4/5)
SOURCE: Digital Spy
However popular the film becomes, though, I doubt that anyone will adore it as much as it evidently adores itself. (2/5)
SOURCE: BBC
Birds of Prey may not hit every beat, but it uses its characters and concepts well enough. Does it reach the creative heights DC executives had hoped it would? No. Does it give it an honest go? Absolutely. (7/10)
SOURCE: Starburst
I was pleasantly surprised just how much I enjoyed the bizarro world of the Birds of Prey, and thrilled at the prospect of it continuing long after this adventure ends. (4/5)
SOURCE: Nerdist
Birds of Prey's most thrilling aspect, instead, is its stylish disregard for pain and the human body. (3/5)
SOURCE: Vox
It may not be the promised total emancipation (at least not yet), but it is fantabulous in its own way. (B-)
SOURCE: indieWire
The latest DC superhero movie isn't quite a solo jam for Harley, nor has she gone straight, but it is an entertaining lark that introduces a few good women - and four-letter curse words - into the canon of Superman and Batman. (3/4)
SOURCE: USA Today
A giddy treat of an R-rated comic-book movie, borrowing elements from inspirations as disparate as 9 to 5, Bugs Bunny and Modesty Blaise to create an adventure that tweaks its genre familiarity with delightful bursts of anarchy and wit.
SOURCE: The Wrap
This film is a blitz of bad taste, a cornucopia of crass, and it is weirdly diverting - more than you might expect, given the frosty way Suicide Squad was received critically - and engagingly crazy. (3/5)
SOURCE: Guardian
Cheeky and unapologetically brassy "Birds Of Prey" is super overwrought and sometimes exasperating, but at least there's never a dull moment. (C)
SOURCE: The Playlist
But those hoping for a Deadpool-like fusion of mayhem and wit should lower their expectations: Harley may be known for her unpredictability, but Birds plays by action-movie rules.
SOURCE: The Hollywood Reporter
Cathy Yan keeps it all hurtling along with impeccable ferocity. Her action scenes have a deftly detonating visual spaciousness, capped by crowd-pleasing moments...
SOURCE: Variety
A pulpy, kaleidoscopic funhouse ride that feels simultaneously high-stakes and low-stakes all at once, Birds of Prey is as cheeky, irreverent, and erratic as its central character, Harley Quinn. (7.5/10)
SOURCE: Slash Film
Although we'd have preferred to see a true team-up with fewer narrative detours, Birds of Prey provides a perfect setup for a host of other intriguing spinoffs in the DC cinematic universe - can we request Poison Ivy next? (8/10)
SOURCE: IGN
With a wicked sense of humor and exhilarating action, Birds of Prey is fierce, fun and a total blast - and an empowering girl power superhero romp. (4/5)
SOURCE: Screen Rant
Welcome to the mind of Harley Quinn, enshrined in all the sequin-encrusted girliness and bone-smashing violence of Birds of Prey. (4/5)
SOURCE: Independent
In a world gone mad, the catharsis of Prey's twisted sisterhood doesn't just read as pandemonium for its own sake; it's actually pretty damn sweet. (B+)
SOURCE: Entertainment Weekly
What Birds of Prey is, is loud, bright, and fun as all hell.
SOURCE: io9
Total mixed bag, doesn't merit a rotten OR fresh tomato. But representation is important, which JUST tips the scale to fresh. Robbie, McGregor & Smollet-Bell do the best work. (5/10)
SOURCE: Beyond The Trailer
Birds of Prey is electric! The style, the humor, the music, the performances, Ewan McGregor, the fight sequences. The more creativity and energy we get like this on the big screen, the better. (8.5/10)
SOURCE: Collider
At no point is the film ever uninteresting and its ambitiously gonzo fluidity is much preferred to the mindless Macguffin-based quests at the center of many superhero flicks from both studios. (3/4)
SOURCE: Observer