2020’s movie calendar got off to a bad start, as Birds of Prey, Dolittle and The Rhythm Section all bombed badly at the box office. In contrast, 2019 was a record-breaking year for blockbusters. Not only did Avengers: Endgame become the highest-grossing movie of all time, but the year also rewarded some releases whose success wasn’t quite as guaranteed, such as Knives Out, Joker and Detective Pikachu. After such a strong year for cinema, 2020 always looked to be a quieter proposition, particularly in terms of blockbusters, and with Star Wars on hiatus, the MCU in transition and Pixar focusing on originals, studios that don’t have a mouse as their mascot might’ve been hoping for less competition.

Unfortunately, that hasn’t been the case, with only Bad Boys For Life making any kind of noise. Dolittle was Robert Downey Jr.’s first post-Iron Man film and featured a star-studded cast including Emma Thompson, John Cena and Tom Holland, but not only were reviews terrible, the big-budget production opened to the sound of tumbleweed. The Rhythm Section fared even worse. The high-octane spy thriller with Blake Lively and Jude Law, from the same production company as James Bond, looked set to fill the void of female-fronted action movies, but posted the worst domestic opening weekend for a 3000+ theater release. Finally, and most surprisingly, the DCEU’s Birds of Prey became the company’s weakest performing superhero movie, despite good reviews and Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn in the lead role, prompting Warner Bros. to actually change the movie’s title mid-run. All 3 might’ve expected to perform better.

So is a third Bad Boys film the best movie-goers can hope for in 2020? Each of those 3 flops certainly had their own individual issues. Dolittle boasted a strong marketing campaign and an A-list cast, but there was never a huge hunger for another remake of the eccentric vet’s adventures, especially one that wasn’t very good. A low-profile marketing campaign was more The Rhythm Section’s problem, again not aided by mediocre reviews. Although the revenge mission of Stephanie Patrick wasn’t so awful as to deserve its unenviable record, releasing only a few months ahead of No Time To Die perhaps wasn’t a smart move in hindsight.

Birds of Prey is a more curious case. Harley Quinn has proven time and time again that she’s a big draw across all mediums, and her latest is the DCEU’s best-reviewed film since Wonder Woman. It could be said that Warner Bros. didn’t capitalize enough on Harley’s presence, with casual viewers perhaps seeing the title and expecting a documentary on the bald eagle, but DC might also rue a fairly average marketing campaign that failed to make Birds of Prey a must-see outing for superhero fans, as well as the unnecessary R rating. Lastly, one could perhaps point at the increasing irrelevance of DC’s shared universe format. With the DCEU, the Joker world and Matt Reeves’ upcoming The Batman, the Caped Crusader’s big screen presence is spread thinly and lacks cohesion. The average fan won’t know whether these movies continue on from each other or exist separately, and it sometimes feels like DC don’t either.

But while each movie made its own mistakes, there are some more general industry factors behind 2020’s less-than impressive start in theaters. Being a quieter movie year, it was thought that some more unusual releases might be afforded a better chance at financial success; instead it seems that viewers are simply saving their money for the bigger films lined up for later in the year. It’ll be interesting to see if the upcoming Pixar, MCU and Bond entries have the same woes.

Also worth considering is the general slump theaters have suffered thanks to the rise of streaming services. For the past few years, statistics have shown a general decline in cinema attendance in line with streaming’s popularity rising, and with Disney+ now on the scene, that pattern could become even more pronounced. New releases have to work harder to convince people not to Netflix and chill, and Birds of Prey, The Rhythm Section and Dolittle clearly weren’t up to the task.

More: Why Dolittle Bombed At The Box Office

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