Thursday night moviegoers flocked to new opening Birds of Prey and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn to the tune of $4 million.
The Margot Robbie-led DC movie is eyeing a $50 million-plus opening weekend in North America, as the only new nationwide release, according to industry experts. Warner Bros., which is releasing the movie on 4,236 screens, is anticipating an opening closer to $45 million.
While Birds of Prey‘s Thursday box office is coming in far under other recent R-rated superhero movies — like 2016’s Deadpool, which earned $12.7 million is previews, and Joker ($13.3 million) — the ticket sales are on par with the studio’s female-fronted Ocean’s Eight and came in only slight under Shazam‘s $5.9 million preview earnings.
Cathy Yan directed the Warner Bros. title, which sees Robbie reprise her Suicide Squad role as Harley Quinn, along with DCU newcomers Jurnee Smollett-Bell (Black Canary), Rosie Perez (Renee Montoya), Mary Elizabeth Winstead (Huntress) and Ewan McGregor. Sue Kroll, Robbie and Bryan Unkeless produced.
Birds of Prey has gotten largely positive reviews, sitting at a 87 percent rating on aggregator Rotten Tomatoes.
Box office holdovers include Bad Boys for Life, which has led the box office for the past three weekends, with $155 million in North American ticket sales.
