Following up on Thursday’s record-breaking opening, Suicide Squad continues to crush it at the box office.
Suicide Squad opened Friday with a massive $65.1 million (which includes the $20.5 million from Thursday night previews) and is on track for an opening weekend gross of $135-$150 million. The number would give Suicide Squad the best August opening, far surpassing that of Guardians of the Galaxy‘s 2014 opening of $94.3 million. For another comparison, Guardians‘ Friday opening was $37.8 million, so we see Suicide Squad is doing exceptionally well.
The question is, however, does Suicide Squad have the legs that Guardians of the Galaxy had as Guardians went on to make over $773 million worldwide, and didn’t have the well known actors and characters (Ben Affleck, Will Smith, Jared Leto, Margot Robbie, Batman, Deadshot, Joker, Harley Quinn, Justice League cameos) that Suicide Squad has. Similar to the two previous DC movies – Man of Steel and Batman Vs. Superman – Suicide Squad may start out strong, but fizzle in subsequent weeks. It’s no doubt that Warner Bros. has a major issue with making their DC movies work for the long haul.
Reviews continue to crush Suicide Squad, even more than Batman Vs. Superman, as Suicide Squad is currently at 26% at Rotten Tomatoes to Batman Vs. Superman‘s 27%. In addition, Suicide Squad‘s rating over at IMDb has dipped a bit and currently sits at 7.2/10 (Batman Vs. Superman has a 6.9). Viewers have also given Suicide Squad a B+ CinemaScore, with younger fans liking the movie (A to A-) more than older fans (B). Regarding the critics, it probably should be noted they gave Ghostbusters and Star Trek Beyond more positive reviews; however, they’re basically flops or fell flat at the box office, so it has to be questioned whether or not reviews actually affect how a film performs. More than likely, if it’s a good movie – it’s a good movie – and word-of-mouth plays bigger into a movie’s success than what the critics have to say.
It should also be noted that Warner Bros. has made changes to their DC movies following both Batman Vs. Superman and Suicide Squad. As a result of the Batman Vs. Superman fallout, various producers have been removed from having a substantial influence on the brand. It was basically too late to remove them from Suicide Squad as it filmed prior to the release of Batman Vs. Superman, but with the upcoming release of Wonder Woman, Justice League and The Flash movies, DC’s Geoff Johns is co-running the films along with WB exec Jon Berg, which has seen Johns’ status at WB elevated to President Of DC Entertainment. Johns is also helping out with script writing. Ben Affleck is also now on board Justice League as a producer and is directing and co-writing (along with Johns) the upcoming solo Batman movie.
Suicide Squad isn’t a perfect movie, but it is lots of fun. Standouts include Will Smith’s Deadshot (who is rumored for the solo Batman movie); Margot Robbie’s Harley Quinn (another potential solo movie there); Jai Courtney’s Boomerang was terrific and may have stolen near ever scene he appeared in; Viola Davis’ Amanda Waller was probably a bigger baddie than the Squaddies themselves; Jared Leto’s Joker, while appearing in only a few scenes, at least leaves the audience wanting more (which isn’t a bad thing by any means), and Jay Hernandez’s Diablo was well portrayed.
The bad for Suicide Squad includes Cara Delevingne’s Enchantress and Joel Kinnaman’s Rick Flag (guess we now know the real reason Tom Hardy turned down the role.) It should be said it’s not the fault of the actors, but the writing was just subpar, particularly with Enchantress and her brother Incubus. Ayer actually adapted the story from the Suicide Squad comics, but really dumbed it down as the actual comic book story probably would have required an R-Rating and was a lot more mature (less Ghostbuster-y).
It seems that Warner Bros. is still finding themselves regarding their DC movies, but they’re almost there. Suicide Squad just missed the mark and the Batman Vs. Superman Ultimate Edition was much better than the theatrical release. The turnaround may come with the release of Wonder Woman, which seems promising. Can’t give up on the DCEU just yet.
“Suicide Squad” is now in theaters directed by David Ayer starring Will Smith as Deadshot, Jared Leto as the Joker, Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn, Cara Delevingne as Enchantress, Jai Courtney as Boomerang, Joel Kinnaman as Rick Flag, Viola Davis as Amanda Waller, Adam Beach as Slipknot, Karen Fukuhara as Katana, Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje as Killer Croc, Jay Hernandez as El Diablo, and Scott Eastwood in an unknown role.
Synopsis:
It feels good to be bad… Assemble a team of the world’s most dangerous, incarcerated Supervillains, provide them with the most powerful arsenal at the government’s disposal, and send them off on a mission to defeat an enigmatic, insuperable entity. U.S. intelligence officer Amanda Waller has determined only a secretly convened group of disparate, despicable individuals with next to nothing to lose will do. However, once they realize they weren’t picked to succeed but chosen for their patent culpability when they inevitably fail, will the Suicide Squad resolve to die trying, or decide it’s every man for himself?
