‘Suicide Squad’ still won the weekend, but saw a perilous 67% drop off from its opening weekend. (For comparison, the much more hated ‘Batman V Superman‘ dropped 69% in its second week.) Taking in $43.8 million, it looks like the terrible reviews and meh word-of-mouth have severely deflated this film, which many were hoping would serve as Warner Brothers’ redemption after ‘Batman V Superman’. But considering that ‘Suicide Squad‘ was pretty much already made when ‘BvS’ came out and disappointed, there was only so much Warner Brothers could to with it.
On the plus side, it crossed the $200M mark domestically and $400 international.
But some analysts are speculating that these DC Comics movies are only really drawing die-hard fans, pointing to diminishing returns on subsequent installments of brands like ‘Harry Potter‘ and ‘Twilight’.
But this could be WB’s third swing-and-a-miss in a row. That doesn’t bode well for their upcoming entries, including ‘Wonder Woman’ and ‘Justice League’. Audiences will only slog through so much. (I mean, was I the only one who had to be bribed to go see the last couple of ‘Hunger Games’ movies?)
Taking a hefty bite out of ‘Suicide Squad’ was Seth Rogen’s R-rated animated ‘Sausage Party’ which blew away all expectations, landing at #2 with $33.6 M. Fun Fact: This is the biggest August opening for an animated film ever! And it’s certainly not the usual animated fare!
The film is only generating so-so word-of-mouth and a B CinemaScore, but this is still an impressive opening and Rogen’s raunchy comedies tend to continue delivering for years, including home video and cable.
What’s somewhat puzzling is that this filthy adult animated film outperformed Disney’s family-skewing ‘Pete’s Dragon’. That film landed at #3 with $20.8M, which is okay considering its tiny $65M budget, but this film, which has earned an A CinemaScore, falls well short of ‘The Jungle Book’ and ‘Finding Dory’. While, ‘The Jungle Book’ got a sequel order almost immediately, this will probably be the only adventure with Pete and his Dragon. But school is back in in most places, so families probably had more to do this weekend than hit the theaters.
Here are the numbers:
- Suicide Squad (Warner Brothers) – $43.8M
- Sausage Party (Sony/Annapurna) – $33.6M
- Pete’s Dragon (Disney) – $21.8M
- Jason Bourne (Universal) – $13.6M
- Bad Moms (STX) – $13.6
I’m not sure what to expect from next weekend. It’s quite possible this week’s champs could continue to reign. ‘Kubo and the Two Strings’ could do well and has been heavily marketed, but it’s not by Disney or Dreamworks, so I’m not sure. There’s also ‘Ben-Hur’ which looks like an expensive dud. Then there’s ‘War Dogs’ with Miles Teller and Jonah Hill, which may do okay based on the popularity of the stars.
Source: Deadline
