Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn). Sounds like Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, or Birdman or (The Unexpected Virtue of Ignorance), doesn’t it? While no one would actually refer to any of those films by their full title, when Margot Robbie revealed the full title for the next film featuring Harley Quinn, many got in on the fun and created their own titles based on Robbie’s reveal. And again, the general audience will no doubt refer to it as merely Birds of Prey.
After all, how do you fit a title that long onto a ticket stub? That’d a be a long ticket stub, wouldn’t it? Anyway, last night on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, guest Margot Robbie explained to Fallon, who displayed a photo of Robbie’s Instagram post with the title, that the title ties into the tone for Birds of Prey, as she explained:
“It’s not a very serious movie, so we thought the title should reflect that. Like Birds of Prey makes it sound very serious, and that’s [the subtitle] kind of like Harley adding her ‘Hey, don’t worry, I’m in this, too.”
You can watch Robbie explain the title of Birds of Prey to Fallon in the video below starting at the 1:28 mark:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMV__Dnbw50
Indeed, with Harley Quinn along for the ride, chances are that some of Birds of Prey may be light-hearted, but at the same time, this essentially being a follow-up to Suicide Squad, taking place in Gotham City, and the introduction of Cassandra Cain would no doubt mean there will be serious elements in the film as well. I doubt this would be as big a tonal shift as, say, Thor: The Dark World to Thor: Ragnarok, or even Batman v Superman to the theatrical release of Justice League after the changes made when Joss Whedon stepped into the director’s chair.
Nonetheless, with many curious about what tone the DC films will take, starting with Aquaman and Shazam! next year, what do you think about Margot Robbie’s comment on the tone for Birds of Prey? Are you expecting a drastic tonal shift, or something close to what’s been established with prior DCEU films? Let us know in the comments below.
Directed by Cathy Yan and written by Christina Hodson, Birds of Prey currently stars Margot Robbie, Jurnee Smolett-Bell, Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Rosie Perez, Ella Jay Basco and Ewan McGregor. The film is set to hit theaters on February 7, 2020.
