An opinion-splitting comic book bomb rendered obsolete in an instant declares open season on streaming

Margot Robbie might be a major star, successful producer, and two-time Academy Award nominee, but Birds of Prey marked the beginning of an unwanted streak that saw the DCU stalwart earn the dreaded reputation of being box office poison.

After the Suicide Squad spinoff conspired to become the lowest-grossing entry in the franchise after barely crawling past $200 million during its theatrical run, the Harley Quinn star went one better after The Suicide Squad – which cost almost twice as much to produce – earned even less.

Compounding her misery, last year’s double-pronged disasters Amsterdam and Babylon are expected to post cumulative total losses of almost $300 million, leaving her with four staggering financial failures in the space of a very short time. Birds of Prey was well-received by critics, though, and it has gone on to become a cult classic comic book favorite among its staunchest backers, but with James Gunn and Peter Safran overhauling the entire DCU, it’s pretty much obsolete at this point.

While there’s a distinct possibility Robbie’s Harley will return eventually, the radio silence regarding spinoff Black Canary and the concerted movement away from the SnyderVerse era – of which the film is a part given its ties to Suicide Squad and the antihero’s previous interactions with Ben Affleck’s Batman – mean it almost definitely won’t be regarded as canon.

Either way, Birds of Prey continues to prove its worth on-demand long after dying a death on the big screen, with FlixPatrol revealing the failed spinoff as the fifth most-watched feature among HBO Max subscribers on a global scale.