Author and marketer Matthew Kadish recently responded to his critics after he was viciously attacked for his prediction that Margot Robbie’s Birds of Prey would bomb at the box office.
On January 25, Kadish took to Twitter to reveal why he believed Birds of Prey was going to bomb just like Charlie’s Angels before it.
Kadish wrote:
“You know why Birds of Prey is going to bomb just like Charlie’s Angels did?
They’ve removed any sex appeal these characters had to appeal to a female “girl power audience instead of the core male comic book audience.
They literally don’t know who they’re making this movie for.”
You know why #BirdsOfPrey is going to bomb just like #CharliesAngels did?
They’ve removed any sex appeal these characters had to appeal to a female “girl power” audience instead of the core male comic book audience.
They literally don’t know who they’re making this movie for. pic.twitter.com/ZKp9A301PN
— Matthew Kadish (@MatthewKadish) January 26, 2020
In a subsequent tweet he would elaborate, “Like, even women want to see attractive women on screen. Cosplayers want hot characters to emulate. None of the Birds of Prey characters have any sex appeal. They even toned down Harley Quinn to make her less sexy, despite that being her biggest draw in Suicide Squad.”
Like, even women want to see attractive women on screen. Cosplayers want hot characters to emulate. None of the #BirdsOfPrey characters have any sex appeal. They even toned down Harley Quinn to make her less sexy, despite that being her biggest draw in #SuicideSquad. pic.twitter.com/A8LVEMhqiW
— Matthew Kadish (@MatthewKadish) January 26, 2020
Related: Margot Robbie’s Birds Of Prey BOMBS At Box Office
Following his analysis, Kadish was accused of being an incel, told to shut up, and accused of sexism.
— Andrea ٩( ʘᆺʘ )۶ 💗💜💙 (@missbonekitty) January 26, 2020
shut up, matthew
— Elizabeth May (@_ElizabethMay) January 26, 2020
Wow, it’s almost like Harley Quinn, a woman with a PHD who just got out of a domestically abusive relationship has more to her than her body being there for people who look like Al from Toy Story’s creepy brother the family is ashamed of to jerk off over.
— Isabelle Rose Saks (@izzysaks) January 27, 2020
— regdog (@TierzaChels) January 27, 2020
So you complain they didn’t make a movie for you to visit huddled up in your large coat, hidding in the back, and leaving a general mess on the seat?
There are other movies for that, and far as I’m informed they still do them (not sure if they still show them in cinemas, though).— Gerd Duerner (@GerdDuerner) January 27, 2020
One person accused him of having “white male rage.”
— Anna | ben solo’s good boy sweater (@A_fromjakku) January 28, 2020
Despite the vicious attacks, Kadish would be vindicated in his analysis as Birds of Prey would bomb at the box office. The movie did so poorly in its opening weekend that Warner Bros. instructed theaters to rename the film Harley Quinn: Birds of Prey.
Related: After Poor Opening Weekend Warner Bros. Changes Margot Robbie’s Birds of Prey Title
Following the film’s abysmal showing at the box office, Kadish appeared on the Price of Reason YouTube channel to address his detractors.
Kadish told Price of Reason that he believes most of his detractors misinterpreted what he was saying.
“I basically made three tweets about how I felt like the movie wasn’t appealing to the right demographic and that it was probably going to fail because of that. That was the gist of my tweets.”
He continued:
“It was very interesting to see people, how they responded to my analysis, but how they misinterpreted it. I made the mistake of using the term “sex appeal” in my tweet and everyone just saw the word sex and totally missed what I was saying because of that one word I used in my tweet and they just kind of ran with it and used it to attack me personally for a good 7 to 10 days.”
Kadish then detailed he found some of the comments “quite funny.”
“I did read a lot of their comments, and some of them were actually quite funny, unintentionally so. It was fascinating for me to see these people, how they not only misinterpreted what I said, but also how they decided to punish me for having an opinion on a movie they liked and supposedly wanted to succeed.”
Kadish would then reiterate his opinion about the film’s marketing.
“The point that I was making in my tweets was, ‘Hey this movie’s marketing is not appealing to the right audience. So you are going to miss out on a huge chunk of the male audience and you are also appealing to a niche section of the female audience and because of that this movie is going to underperform.”
Kadish also reiterated his opinion that female viewers also enjoy sexy characters on the big screen.
“It’s true. The male gaze isn’t just for men. Women can appreciate a woman’s sexuality and looking attractive just as men can and in some cases even more so. And my point was very simple, if you want people to see your movie make it attractive to them, that’s it.”
Kadish noted that he didn’t feel vindicated by Birds of Prey’s performance at the box office. He also stated he doesn’t plan on rubbing people’s faces in the fact that he was right.
“To me it’s not important that I rub people’s faces, I’m just glad there are people out there who can see what happened and see that I was right in my analysis and then be like, ‘you know what maybe I should listen to this guy a little bit closer and take his opinions a little bit more seriously.”
Kadish then concluded with some advice for Hollywood.
“Hollywood in general needs to number one know who their audience is that they are making these movies for and number two needs to do a better job of giving that audience what it is that they want.”
What do you make of Kadish’s response?