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‘Birds of Prey’ Beats ‘Bad Boys’ but Ticket Sales Fall Short

‘Birds of Prey’ Beats ‘Bad Boys’ but Ticket Sales Fall Short

(Bloomberg) -- “Birds of Prey” broke the three-week winning streak of “Bad Boys for Life” and led the weekend box office in North America. But the film fell short of estimates and is looking like a flop. The DC Comics installment still has a chance to catch up next weekend, which includes Valentine’s Day and President’s Day.

  • The Warner Bros. film earned $33 million in its first weekend in wide release, Comscore Inc. said Monday. That’s despite an 81% positive rating for the comic book flick on Rotten Tomatoes. “Birds of Prey” is “richly hued, madly inventive, gleefully violent and happily slapdash,” wrote the Wall Street Journal.
‘Birds of Prey’ Beats ‘Bad Boys’ but Ticket Sales Fall Short

Key Insights

  • The theater industry was hoping the newest comic book film would “kick-start the next upswing,” BoxOffice Pro analyst Shawn Robbins said in a blog post. But the R-rating of the movie may have put audiences off.
‘Birds of Prey’ Beats ‘Bad Boys’ but Ticket Sales Fall Short
  • Overall ticket sales for the year are up 9.6% from the same period last year, buoyed by the success of “Bad Boys for Life” and World War I epic “1917.” The latter film came up Sunday short in the race for best picture at the Oscars. The winner, the South Korean comedy “Parasite,” had sales of $1.56 million.
  • No other new releases this weekend were expected to crack the top 10 spots. NBCUniversal’s “Dolittle,” a retelling of the story of the eccentric English doctor who can talk to animals, took the fourth spot, while Sony’s “Jumanji: The Next Level,” continued its strong run, landing in fifth place.
‘Birds of Prey’ Beats ‘Bad Boys’ but Ticket Sales Fall Short
‘Birds of Prey’ Beats ‘Bad Boys’ but Ticket Sales Fall Short

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--With assistance from Hailey Waller.

To contact the reporter on this story: Kelly Gilblom in Los Angeles at kgilblom@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Nick Turner at nturner7@bloomberg.net, Kevin Miller

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