Can February’s Box Office Hit New Heights Without a ‘Black Panther’ or a ‘Deadpool’?

February’s box office will see big tentpoles — particularly “Birds of Prey” and “Sonic the Hedgehog” — try to keep up with January’s brisk start. But these films will also provide hints  as to how much the February moviegoing market has been transformed two years after “Black Panther” redefined how much success a film can yield at this time of the year. For now, analysts are keeping expectations optimistic but reasonable. Exhibitor Relations’ Jeff Bock predicts February 2020 will see much better numbers than last year, but that none of the films on the slate will do as well as “Black Panther” in 2018 or fellow February superhero release “Deadpool” two years earlier.  That includes “Birds of Prey,” which Warner Bros. is hoping will turn Harley Quinn into DC’s answer to Wade Wilson. “If the reviews are really good, there’s a chance that ‘Birds of Prey’ overperforms and has an opening weekend of $70 million or more. But right now, the audience tracking isn’t showing the kind of interest that ‘Deadpool’ or ‘Joker’ had, and those are the gold standard for R-rated superhero films,” Bock said. “Granted, this is a film with a $100 million or so budget, and it…

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