Birds of Prey Director Wants Movie Released Early On VOD

Birds of Prey director Cathy Yan is advocating for the R-rated DCEU film to be released on-demand sooner than later. Birds of Prey (And the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn) debuted in theaters in February, and while it struggled to make a major impression at the box office, the film was met with mostly positive reviews. Starring Margot Robbie as the titular Harley Quinn, Birds of Prey follows Harley as she recovers from her breakup with the Joker and ends up protecting a young girl (Ella Jay Basco) from notorious crime lord Roman Sionis (Ewan McGregor). It also stars Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Jurnee Smollett-Bell, Chris Messina, and Rosie Perez.

Due to the coronavirus outbreak that has spread around the world, studios have been forced to pull a number of their upcoming releases as movie theaters across the country shut down. Last weekend’s box office grosses plunged to a twenty-year low, and studios are facing huge losses across the board. To cope, some studios have tried to find ways around the traditional release route. For example, Universal announced a few of their recent releases would be headed to VOD sooner than expected, including the yet-to-be-released Trolls World Tour.

Related: Coronavirus: Every Movie Delayed So Far

Following the news about Universal’s new strategy, Yan hopped on Twitter to suggest Warner Bros. do the same for Birds of Prey. Her message was short and sweet, saying she “would not be opposed.” You can see the tweet in the space below:

Putting Birds of Prey on-demand sooner could help ease its box office woes, which will surely only grow worse in the coming weeks. After a lower-than-expected opening, Birds of Prey failed to reach the heights of previous DC films and has largely been viewed as a disappointment. Strong legs in the weeks following could have helped its domestic gross, but with movie theaters shuttering and fewer people venturing out to the ones that remain open, those hopes seem impossible now. Granted, Birds of Prey has already been out for well over a month, so its box office performance was likely already starting to wane prior to increased coronavirus concerns.

It’s perfectly natural for a director to want to increase people’s chances of seeing their film, and Yan’s suggestion isn’t unreasonable seeing as other studios are starting to do the same. Now that people are staying home, they’re looking for entertainment, and new films appearing on-demand will surely appeal to them. Only time will tell if Warner Bros. decides to put Birds of Prey on VOD early, but Yan has already cast her vote.

More: Birds of Prey’s Box Office Problems: What DC Got Wrong With The Harley Quinn Movie

Source: Cathy Yan/Twitter

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About The Author

Rachel LaBonte is a news and features writer for Screen Rant with a deep passion for movies and television. A recent graduate of Emerson College, she majored in Media Arts Production while specializing in screenwriting. She’s been a writer ever since high school when she realized she was rather good at it and joined as many entertainment news clubs as she could while in school. Most notably, she wrote for Emerson’s website Emertainment Monthly, and one of her film reviews won an Evvy (Emerson’s student awards) for Best Review. Her deep love of movies led to her working at a movie theater for five years, which she loved despite the angry customers. An avid reader who constantly buys books before reading the ones she already owns, Rachel is a huge fan of superheroes (especially of the Marvel variety) and wizards and will likely never be able to catch up on all the movies/TV shows she longs to watch.

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