Despite getting completely and utterly trashed by critics, WB's Suicide Squad wiped out the record for an August opening, pulling in 135 million over three days. However, there was a pretty steep drop-off from Friday to Saturday alone, and after receiving a mere "B+" Cinemascore, this one looks to be in for a fate similar to March's Batman v Superman, as audiences come out of this film more inclined to agree with the critics' disdain. Still, it made bank overseas this weekend as well, and already has 267 million in the can globally. It's enough to depress you, as the DC universe can't manage to produce a semi-decent film, yet continues to rake in the cash due to audiences' excitement over the idea of these superheroes. The female audience in particular turned out for this one, probably due to the idea of Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn being front and center. That bodes well for Wonder Woman, but given this track record, I wouldn't be getting my hopes up if I was a fan of any of these characters. Believe it when you see it.
Last week's winner Jason Bourne took a big fall, but continues to do well overseas, having earned 195 million so far. STX's Bad Moms is also holding well, serving a female audience that is mostly underserved all year round, which explains how the Mila Kunis comedy could end up with close to 100 million by the end of its run. The Secret Life of Pets and Star Trek Beyond rounded out the top five, with 11 and 10 million, respectively.
Top 5:
- Suicide Squad- 135 million
- Jason Bourne- 22.7 million
- Bad Moms- 14.2 million
- The Secret Life of Pets- 11.6 million
- Star Trek Beyond- 10.2 million
Kevin Spacey's Nine Lives, also critically panned, took in around 6 million over its debut weekend, while Ghostbusters has 116 million total, but not much overseas at all, and looks set to lose money, putting the future of the franchise in doubt. Next week it's Disney's Pete's Dragon against Meryl Streep's Florence Foster Jenkins, so who knows how Suicide Squad will hold up against those films targeting different audiences.
