I hear the first cut tested really poorly, and that DC film boss Walter Hamada got
Birds of Prey into shape of being the critically praised film that it is. As has been widely reported, there were re-shoots, common for those on a big event film like this.
However, what that did was throw a monkey wrench into marketing's machine. I understand they should not be blamed here. They only had so much to work with, and materials weren't ready for the studio to take down to San Diego Comic-Con in July. Despite such stunts as the in-theater trailer drop on
It: Chapter Two, and taking Robbie and the film down to Brazil Comic-Con in Sao Paulo, the overall campaign lacked a sense of eventizing (hello, remember, when Hall H fans were posting the illegally taped version of the first
Suicide Squad trailer more than a year before its release? That's eventizing!) and that's because marketing didn't have a lot to work with off the movie like they did with
Joker, Meg, etc. Remember all the clever marketing tricks and self-parodies
that Fox pulled off on Deadpool? That wasn't possible here.
deadline.com
