Like the plot of Suicide Squad — which sees people defy all odds and ignore the crushing weight of better judgment — Suicide Squad’s opening weekend box office shrugged off a spate of overwhelmingly bad reviews to become an over-achieving success.
The movie, according to estimates from Comscore, garnered $135.1 million; that haul is bigger than Guardians of the Galaxy’s $94.3 opening weekend in 2014, the biggest pre-Suicide Squad opening weekend in August. And as USA Today points out, Suicide Squadopened bigger than Deadpool did earlier this year. Guardians of the Galaxy andDeadpool, because they’re more off-beat than traditional superhero films, are considered Suicide Squad’s peers.
This is undoubtedly good news for DC Comics and Warner Bros. However, they don’t have reason to celebrate just yet. They’ve seen this before.
The true test will be to see how Suicide Squad does at the box office in the coming weeks. Earlier this year, Batman v. Superman also enjoyed a huge box office opening despite negative reviews, only to see earnings drop precipitously (68 percent) in its second weekend. Guardians of the Galaxy, in comparison, dropped only 55 percent in its second weekend, and maintained solid box office earnings six weeks after its release.