“Suicide squad drove this past weekend to a $229 million record weekend for the industry”.
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“Suicide Squad”, the latest feature from Warner Bros.’ DC Comics, opened as the No. 1 film in North American theaters, breaking records for August despite a mauling by critics. More importantly, the film will likely not see a release in China – this could have meant another $100-150 million for the film’s global box office (even if Hollywood studios only get back about 20%-25% of the money earned in the country). Both films are part of the studio’s DC Extended Universe of films based on the brand’s comic characters, which it is trying to build into a Marvel-like cash cow. That US number breaks the previous record-holder (2014’s Guardians Of The Galaxy $94.3 million) to become the biggest August opening in the US of all time. Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, which had a similar reception critically, only made a two times multiplier of its opening weekend.
Suicide Squad is now in theaters in the USA and in cinemas in the United Kingdom.
“You can’t put reviews in the bank”. “The long-term success of any movie is predicated on positive sentiment from the fans. For any movie, that’s the most important aspect”. The opening weekend US gross for “Suicide Squad” also pushed the studio to more than $1 billion in total domestic box-office sales for 2016, marking the 16th year in a row Warner Bros. has topped that figure, the studio said in a statement.
In the runner-up spot was last weekend’s leader, another action thriller, the sequel, ‘Jason Bourne, ‘ starring Matt Damon.
The top five for the weekend box office was otherwise filled with holdovers.
Coming in third was the R-rated comedy Bad Moms with $14.2 million.
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On the bright side, the Associated Press reports that although there were large audiences Thursday and Friday night, ticket sales sharply declined on Saturday. Where available, the latest global numbers for Friday through Sunday are also included.
