'Suicide Squad' Opens to Big $135 Million, But Drops Sharply Saturday
By Pamela McClintock, The Hollywood Reporter
David Ayer’s Suicide Squad may have opened to an August-best $135.1 million at the North American box office, but bad reviews and so-so audience reaction are already taking their toll.
After pulling in an impressive $65.1 million on Friday, it looked like the Warner Bros.’ tentpole, playing in 4,255 theaters, would debut to $145 million-$150 million. But traffic slowed dramatically throughout Saturday, or 41 percent day-over-day, a far steeper drop than other successful superhero movies (The Dark Knight also dropped 41 percent, but the movie was impacted by the Aurora shooting.)
Overseas, Suicide Squad amassed $132 million in its debut in 57 markets, the second-best showing for a DC superhero title and the biggest August launch of any film. That puts the movie’s global bow at $267.1 million.
It can’t be denied that Suicide Squad posted one of the best openings of the year to date domestically — thank a savvy marketing campaign, including a high-profile stop at Comic-Con — as well as wrestling the August crown from Marvel and Disney’s likewise offbeat superhero film, Guardians of the Galaxy, which debuted to a surprise $94.3 million in 2014 on its way to earning better-than-expected $773.3 million globally, including $333.2 million domestically.
Related: 4 Things That Were Actually Quite Good in ‘Suicide Squad’
The big question heading into the weekend was whether the latest film in Warner Bros.’ growing DC Extended Universe could beat another irreverent superhero offering: Fox and Marvel’s Deadpool. It did, but barely. Deadpool posted a three-day debut of $134.2 million over Valentine’s Day/Presidents Day weekend in February, a record for an R-rated film. Deadpool’s four-day holiday gross was $152.2 million on its way to grossing $773.3 million globally.
Suicide Squad — boasting a friendlier PG-13 rating — has been ravaged by critics and currently suffers a 26 percent rotten rating on Rotten Tomatoes. That’s one point behind the 27 percent rating for fellow DCEU title Batman v Superman, which debuted to a hefty $166.7 million in March, but fell off more quickly than expected in the following weeks.
Now, Suicide Squad’s ultimate playability is also in question after receiving a B+ CinemaScore from North American audiences. While it’s better than the B awarded to Dawn of Justice, movies have much better legs when receiving some variation of an A.
Ayer’s film certainly doesn’t lack for star power and follows a group of dangerous comic book villains — played by Will Smith (Deadshot), Margot Robbie (Harley Quinn), Jai Courtney (Captain Boomerang), Jay Hernandez (El Diablo) and Cara Delevingne (Enchantress) — who are recruited to fight off a deadly threat. Jared Leto stars as The Joker while Joel Kinnaman and Viola Davis round out the cast.
Related: 'Suicide Squad’: Film Review
Suicide Squad did big business in Imax theaters, which ponied up an August-best $12 million in North America.
The biggest surprise in terms of audience makeup was the strong turnout among females, who made up 46 percent of Friday’s audience, according to exit poling service CinemaScore. That’s unusual for a superhero film. However, another polling service shows a different demo breakdown, with females making up 42 percent-43 percent of the audience.
Moviegoers under the age of 18 liked the movie best, giving it an A. Insiders at Warners are hopeful this translates into strong midweek business before school resumes.
The weekend’s other new nationwide offering was EuropaCorp and director Barry Sonnenfeld’s Nine Lives, a family-friendly film starring Oscar-winner Kevin Spacey as a neglectful dad turned into a cat. Jennifer Garner co-stars in the movie, which also has been ravaged by critics and likewise earned a B+ CinemaScore.
Nine Lives’ didn’t have much of a meow, opening to $6.5 million from 3,264 theaters for a sixth-place finish.
Related: 'Suicide Squad’s’ Secret Drama: Rushed Production, Competing Cuts, High Anxiety
Among holdovers, Universal’s Jason Bourne, starring Matt Damon, fell to No. 2 in its second weekend, tumbling 62 percent to $22.7 million for a domestic total of $103.4 million. That’s a much bigger drop than the first three Bourne films starring Damon; one complicating factor was competition from Suicide Squad.
STX’s female-skewing comedy Bad Moms fell a relatively slim drop of 40 percent in its second outing. The R-rated film, holding at No. 3, earned $14.2 million for a domestic total of $51.1 million.
The Secret Life of Pets, from Illumination and Universal, and Paramount’s Star Trek Beyond rounded out the top five, respectively with an estimated $11.6 million and $10.3 million.
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