“Usually, when a studio greenlights a comic-book spin-off, it’s as close to sure-fire as you can get. Even Todd Phillips’ risky R-rated origin myth “Joker,” starring Oscar-winner Joaquin Phoenix as a mentally ill chaos agent, turned into a $1 billion global home run.

“And then there’s the film formerly known as “Birds of Prey (and the Fantabulous Emancipation of One Harley Quinn),” a title that distanced itself from the DC film that introduced Margot Robbie as Quinn, 2016 box-office smash “Suicide Squad” ($746 million worldwide, with its own James Gunn reboot in the works for 2021).

“However, “Birds of Prey,” opened last weekend to $33.3 million, well below box-office expectations of $45 million-$55 million, based on preview testing (88% in the top two boxes for women, 86% people under 30), upbeat fanboy and media reactions, and (clearly inflated) advance tracking.”

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