Margot Robbie Dashes Hopes For A Birds of Prey Sequel
Actress Margot Robbie recently dashed some fans hopes for a Birds of Prey sequel.
The actress recently sat down for an interview with The Hollywood Reporter who asked her if there would be a Birds of Prey sequel.
Robbie responded, “I don’t know. Nothing imminent at this stage, nothing worth mentioning.”
Related: Rumor: Birds of Prey Sequel With Margot Robbie Axed, Warner Bros. Is Moving On
Robbie’s brief comment appears to confirm a rumor from back in July that detailed a sequel had been axed.
That rumor came from Giant Freakin Robot whose source told them, “Warners no longer believes in the concept or in the creative team behind the movie.”
Scooper Grace Randolph would also report that “WB has Harley on hold after BoP did poorly at the box office.”
Birds of Prey marketed itself as a feminist film that would tackle misogyny.
Speaking with the AP in January, actor Ewan McGregor promoted the film back in January stating, “Yea, it’s about time. We were both really proud. We talked about it. We were both really proud to be involved in a film that was a feminist film that tackled misogyny.”
IT’S ABOUT TIME: Ewan McGregor (@mcgregor_ewan) says he was happy to lend himself to a feminist film that “tackled misogyny.” He stars as the antagonist in #BirdsofPrey pic.twitter.com/II5D06q32A
— AP Entertainment (@APEntertainment) January 24, 2020
McGregor continued, “Not only in the sort of extreme ends of misogyny, but also the everyday mild misogyny women have to put up with.”
He then added, “And this film peppered with references to that. We were just proud to be part of that and be the misogynists in the movie. To help flag that up to guys who need to know that time’s done.”
Related: Ewan McGregor: Birds of Prey is “a Feminist Film” With a “Real Look on Misogyny”
Before that McGregor spoke with French website Premiere.
He told them, “What interested me with Birds of Prey is that it’s a feminist film. It is very finely written, there is in the script a real look on misogyny.”
The actor continued, “And I think we need that, we need to be more aware of how we behave with the opposite sex. We need to be taught to change.”
“Misogynists in movies are often extreme: they rape, they beat women … And it is legitimate to represent people like that, because they exist and they are obviously the worst. But in the Birds of Prey dialogues, there is always a hint of everyday misogyny, of those things you say as a man you do not even realize, mansplaining … All it’s in the script in a very subtle way. I found that brilliant,” McGregor added.
Related: Margot Robbie on Harley Quinn’s Birds of Prey Costumes: “Less Male Gaze-Y”
While McGregor promoted the film as feminist and that it tackled misogyny, Margot Robbie made it a point to note that the film’s costumes were “less male gaze-y.”
When the film eventually released into theaters it was a box office bomb.
Related: Margot Robbie’s Birds Of Prey BOMBS At Box Office
The film, which had an estimated production budget of $82 million only garnered $33 million opening weekend. According to The-Numbers, the film would wind up with $84.1 million at the domestic box office and $117.7 million at the worldwide box office for a total haul of $201.8 million.
Following the film’s abysmal opening weekend, Warner Bros. would change the title of the film to Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey. It was previously titled Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn.
The title change didn’t appear to help the film.
While Warner Bros. changed the film’s title, defenders of the film including Punisher creator Gerry Conway would blame men and misogyny for the film bombing.
Conway wrote on Twitter, “I’m so disappointed by ‘Birds of Prey’ box office and what it says about the male audience for superhero films. Here’s my controversial take (don’t hate me): the movie didn’t pull teenage boys because Margot Robbie didn’t want Harley Quinn to be sexualized as she was in SS.”
He would later write, “Unfortunately what she may have proved (who can say off one movie) is that the male audience for superhero movies isn’t as mature as we’d like to hope, and the female audience isn’t large enough to compensate.”
Despite these complaints, Deadline reported that men actually made up 53% of the film’s opening weekend audience. In fact they also reported that men over 25 were a plurality of the audience with 33%.
Following the film’s bombing at the box office, director Cathy Yan would actually reveal that she actually pitched the film “to smash the patriarchy.”
Yan described her pitch, which was actually a sizzle reel to The New Yorker. She said it included “scenes ‘Bachelor’ proposals, the De Beers diamond commercial, Kim Kardashian’s vampire facial, Fox [News] anchors talking about women, Trump saying ‘Grab ’em by the p****’ – stuff that might make a girl want to smash the patriarchy.”
Yan would later try to claim the film bombed because there undue expectations on the film.
She told The Hollywood Reporter, “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,” Yan added.
What do you make of Robbie’s comments that a Birds of Prey sequel is not happening? Does it surprise you?
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