As COVID-19 instances resurface in the United States, James Gunn’s antihero film fell short of expectations.
The movie was also shown on HBO Max, allowing fans to enjoy it from the comfort of their own homes.
The Suicide Squad, a critical darling from Warner Bros. and DC, opened to a lower-than-expected $26.5 million from 4,002 North American theatres, owing to problems created by the Delta variation and a hybrid theatrical-home launch. The film did have one triumph: it had the best North American opening for an R-rated release during the epidemic era.
Overseas, where COVID-19 is also on the rise in a number of areas, The Suicide Squad took in a modest $35 million from 71 nations for a total of $45.7 million and $72.2 million worldwide. Margot Robbie, Idris Elba, John Cena, Joel Kinnaman, Sylvester Stallone, Viola Davis, Jai Courtney, and Peter Capaldi star in James Gunn’s standalone sequel about DC’s squad of antiheroes.
Warner Bros. estimated a $30 million opening weekend in North American theatres going into the weekend.
The film was made available on HBO Max at the same time as it was released in theatres, a move that many box office experts believe harms theatrical releases.
Streaming viewership data for the studio’s 2021 slate of films, which includes the DC Cinematic Universe tentpole, have yet to be released. Suicide Squad, on the other hand, had the second-highest opening of any film releasing day-and-date on HBO Max, according to HBO Max president Andy Forssell. Mortal Kombat is said to be the most popular, yet no one knows for sure.
“As the country faces new challenges due to the COVID variant, we’re happy to continue to offer fans the option of viewing movies in their homes,” the executive said. “Many chose to do just that as Suicide Squad emerged as the second most viewed film over an opening weekend on HBO Max since we began day-and-date releases with theaters.”
Disney and Marvel’s Black Widow opened to an all-time high of $80 million on the big screen a month ago.
F9, which launched in late June and with a budget of $70 million, is the runner-up.
Concerns about the Delta model, on the other hand, made headlines throughout August, and the impact was felt at the box office, as moviegoers’ comfort level decreased. Disney’s tentpole Jungle Cruise debuted at $35 million domestically on the July 30-August 2 weekend, a low number in normal circumstances (it did, however, outperform expectations).
“This weekend’s performance of The Suicide Squad shows yet again the unpredictability of a theatrical marketplace whose success rises and falls based on an ever-evolving set of disparate factors including not only the usual film-centric metrics, but also the impact of concerning pandemic news on consumer behavior,” says Comscore’s Paul Dergarabedian. “Of course, the day-and_date release of any film has implications, but in today’s environment it’s too simplistic to analyze a movie’s performance based on that variable alone since there are so many moving parts.”
Suicide Squad’s theatrical potential is clearly hampered by a home release on HBO Max, as is Jungle Cruise’s Disney+ Premier Access option. The latter, on the other hand, costs an additional $30 to view on Premier Access, whereas Suicide Squad is free to all HBO Max subscribers.
During the pandemic, both Warner Bros. and Disney maintain that they need to hedge their bets (they also want to grow their streaming services).
Suicide Squad received rave reviews from critics, including a 92 percent “Fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
It received a B+ from the audience, who were slightly less enthusiastic. Following 2016’s Suicide Squad, which was directed by David Ayer and grossed $175 million domestically, the film aims to revive the franchise.
It’s the 16th film in the DC Cinematic Universe, and it debuted even lower than Birds of Prey ($33 million) in early 2020, which also stars Robbie.
The Suicide Squad follows a squad of convicted criminals as they deconstruct a Nazi-era research facility.
They meet a huge extraterrestrial named Starro along the journey. The second weekend of Jungle Cruise brought in $15.7 million, a 55 percent reduction from the first weekend (most even pics have fallen off steeply during the pandemic in their sophomore outings.) Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt feature in the live-action tentpole.
Disney did not update Premier Access figures for Jungle Cruise, which made $30 million on Disney+ on its first weekend.
Jungle Cruise has now grossed $65.3 million in the United States.
It earned another $15.1 million at the international box office, bringing the total to $56.5 million worldwide and $121.8 million worldwide.
Old, from Universal and M. Night Shyamalan, came in third place domestically in its third weekend with $4.1 million, giving it a North American total of $38.5 million and a domestic total of $65.2 million.
Black Widow remained at No. 4 in its fifth weekend with $4 million, giving it a domestic total of $174.4 million and an international total of $185.4 million. It has a global box office total of $359.8 million.
