LOS ANGELES — For new Warner Bros. release "Birds of Prey," the weekend brought good and bad news: It took in $33 million to lead the North American box office, but fared poorly for a superhero movie.

The three-day gross, reported by industry watcher Exhibitor Relations, marked one of the lowest domestic launches in years for a studio superhero film, according to Hollywood Reporter.

The film, starring Margot Robbie as former Joker girlfriend Harley Quinn, has drawn generally strong reviews.

The R-rated movie from young Chinese-American director Cathy Yan reportedly cost just under $100 million to produce — the lowest budget of any installment in the DC Extended Universe.

Sony's action comedy "Bad Boys for Life," with Will Smith and Martin Lawrence as wise-cracking detectives, slipped just one notch after topping the box office for three straight weeks, taking in $12 million.

Both movies may have suffered from Academy Award weekend, when viewers showed renewed interest in "1917," the pre-show favorite for the best-film Oscar which eventually went to "Parasite" on Sunday.

"1917," the wrenching and technically impressive war film from director Sam Mendes, earned $9.2 million for the weekend, down only slightly from the week before.

In fourth was another Universal picture, "Dolittle," based on the children's book about a veterinarian who can talk to animals. With a cast headed by Robert Downey Jr. and Emma Thompson, the poorly reviewed film took in $6.5 million.

And in fifth, one spot up from the previous week, was Sony's "Jumanji: The Next Level," at $5.6 million. It has Dwayne ("The Rock") Johnson and Kevin Hart being plunged back into a dangerous video game world. — AFP

Rounding out the top 10 were:

"The Gentlemen" ($4.2 million)

"Gretel and Hansel" ($3.6 million)

"Little Women" ($2.4 million)

"Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker" ($2.3 million)

"Knives Out" ($2.3 million)