GET WOKE, GO BROKE: Anti-Male Superheroine Flick ‘Birds of Prey’ Fizzles at the Box Office
Shane Trejo
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Despite garnering positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes, the anti-man, pro-feminist movie “Birds of Prey” had a woeful showing at the box office on its first weekend in theaters.
The superhero movie starring Margot Robbie as comic book heroine Harley Quinn grossed $13 million on Friday on 4,236 screens. It is projected to gross under $34 million for the entire weekend. It is set to have the worst-performing opening weekend for a movie based on DC Comics since “Jonah Hex” debuted with a dismal $5.3 million opening one decade ago.
Warner Bros. Pictures hoped to gross as much $55 million over the weekend, with $45 million being seen as a more conservative estimate for the film. The movie has feminist themes throughout the plot, and was promoted as a girl power movie that struck back against the patriarchy.
“These are bad guys that these women fight, and they represent a system that has been pushing these women down. A lot of people can relate to that. And at the same time, it’s fun,” director Cathy Yan said to NPR when being interviewed about the movie.
“I think it’s more inherent in the decisions that I make,” Yan said of her drive to bring as many minorities on board to the project as she could. “And so there was an instinct to just be more diverse with the casting. And even among the crew, I’m proud to say we had a lot of Asians on set.”
Yan whined about how Hollywood studios don’t do more to kowtow to female actresses and staff members.
“I think one for me is – and I’ve spoken about this with Jurnee Smollett-Bell, too, who is a real activist in her own way. And I think her child was 2 years old when she shot “Birds Of Prey.” And we just threw around this idea of like, well, why isn’t there a daycare trailer? Why do we have to put that elsewhere? And I think that there isn’t much of an institutional support, so you don’t get something like maternity leave because you’re either on a project or off a project.” she said.
Robbie, who played the lead actress in the film, also paid lip service to a message of female empowerment while promoting the film.
“First and foremost, the best person gets the job, Cathy [Yan] was the best person for the job,” said Robbie of the film’s director, “but I think it’s important to make more of an effort to seek out the females for those roles, because the statistics are embarrassing and disgraceful, and not where they should be. And if we don’t actually take action, it’s never going to change.”
“Now people are starting to kind of be held accountable because other people are actually doing it. Like Warner Bros, for example, actually making this film, kind of holds other studios accountable. That’s what’s really going to enact change, is holding people accountable,” Robbie added.
“Birds of Prey” is the latest in a long string of movies with a “woke” plot flopping at the box office. “Bombshell,” also starring Robbie, and “Terminator: Dark Fate” both tanked at the box office last year while TV programs “Watchmen” and “Batwoman” were ratings poison. Audiences are growing tired of “woke” propaganda, and it remains to be seen if Hollywood studios are willing to lose profits to promote leftism in movies.
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