Proving fan anticipation trumps critical disdain, audiences turned out in record numbers to catch Suicide Squad, leading the DC Comics flick to the highest August opening in history with an estimated $135.1 million.
The film’s massive debut also marks the biggest opening weekend of Will Smith’s career (and his first $100 million+ opener), blasting past the $77.2 million gross of I Am Legend’s first weekend in 2007.
Suicide Squad’s $135.1 million trumps the $94.3 million previous August champ, Guardians of the Galaxy, grossed in 2014. The $175 million David Ayer-directed film, which also stars Margot Robbie, Jared Leto, and Viola Davis, amassed a further $132 million from 57 international territories for a worldwide haul of $267.1 million. IMAX numbers accounted for $18.2 million of Suicide Squad’s receipts, the strongest-ever August showing for the format.
Judging by the film’s B+ grade on CinemaScore, audiences were seemingly less enthusiastic exiting the theater as they were heading in. Though not a terrible showing, Suicide Squad will likely fall in-step with Warner Bros.’ last superhero outing, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and drop significantly over its sophomore frame.
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As expected, Universal’s Jason Bourne took a nasty tumble in Suicide Squad’s wake, falling 61.6% to No. 2 with an estimated $22.7 million. The $120-million production crossed the $100 million mark in North America Sunday on top of pulling in an additional $91.9 million from foreign markets, bringing the film’s global total to $195.3 million after just 10 days in release.
STX’s Bad Moms continues its impressive run at the domestic box office at No. 3, falling a mere 40% to $14.2 million after opening to $23.8 million last week. The R-rated, female-driven comedy follows in the footsteps of successful films like Amy Schumer’s Trainwreck, Melissa McCarthy’s Spy, and the Tina Fey/Amy Poehler vehicle Sisters as genre pictures successfully speaking to a generally underserved demographic.
After 10 days in wide release, Spy had amassed $56 million on its way to a grand total of $110 million; at the same checkpoint, Bad Moms currently trails the Paul Feig flick by a mere $5 million, meaning Mila Kunis and company could be looking at a final number approaching the $100 million mark by the end of their run.
At No. 4, Illuminations and Universal’s The Secret Life of Pets adds an estimated $11.6 million to its domestic total of $319.6 million. Worldwide, the film crosses the $500 million mark this weekend.
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Rounding out the top five is Star Trek Beyond with an estimated $10.2 million, which continues the film’s downward spiral as it drops over 58% for the second consecutive weekend. The film’s domestic total hovers around $127.9 million as of Sunday.
Outside the top five, EuropaCorp’s critically panned Nine Lives, which features Kevin Spacey voicing an animated cat, meets modest expectations as it earns an estimated $6.5 million over its debut weekend. Mike Birbiglia’s Don’t Think Twice continues to impress in limited release, adding $395,637 to its growing total of $701,485 after notching some of the year’s highest per-screen averages during its first ($92,835) and second ($31,022) weekends in theaters.
Year-to-date box office is up approximately 4.1% from 2015. Check out the Aug. 5-7 weekend estimates below.
1. Suicide Squad – $135.1 million
2. Jason Bourne – $22.7 million
3. Bad Moms – $14.2 million
4. The Secret Life of Pets – $11.6 million
5. Star Trek Beyond – $10.2 million
6. Nine Lives – $6.5 million
7. Lights Out – $6 million
8. Nerve – $4.9 million
9. Ghostbusters – $4.8 million
10. Ice Age: Collision Course – $4.3 million
This article originally appeared on EW.com
