David Ayer’s Suicide Squad demolished the box office, debuting with a record-breaking $135.1 million from 4,255 locations – becoming the largest August opening of all time (besting Guardians of the Galaxy’s $94.3 million).
Suicide Squad jump-started with a massive $65.1 million on Friday, with analysts expecting the film to exceed $145 million for the weekend. However, as bad reviews rolled in, traffic slowed down dramatically.
“From my perspective this was an awesome weekend. August has never seen a $200 million-plus weekend in domestic box office revenue. So this was a record weekend driven by Suicide Squad,” said Warner Bros. distribution chief Jeff Goldstein, who isn’t concerned about Saturday’s decline. “And August has tremendous multiples since we won’t be bombarded with big movies opening up every weekend.”
Compared to harsh critic reviews and a 26 percent “fresh” Rotten Tomatoes score, moviegoers were much more fond of the film, giving Suicide Squad a B-plus CinemaScore.
The weekend’s other new release included EuropaCorp’s Nine Lives, a film that was equally ravaged by critics, earning a meager 4 percent “fresh” score on Rotten Tomatoes and a similar B-plus CinemaScore.
Nine Lives debuted with $6.5 million from 3,264 theaters, landing in sixth place at the box office. The family friendly film stars Kevin Spacey as a neglectful dad who turns into a cat. Jennifer Garner also stars.
Universal’s Jason Bourne took in second place with $22.7 million for a domestic total of $103.4 million, while STX’s Bad Moms followed in third place with $14.2 million for a domestic total of $51.1 million.
Rounding out the top five is Universal’s The Secret Life of Pets and Paramount’s Star Trek Beyond, in fourth and fifth place, respectively. The family friendly animation added $11.6 million to its $319.6 million domestic total, while the sci-fi thriller added $10.2 million to its $127.9 million domestic total.
Top 10 Films at Weekend Box Office: August 5-7
- Suicide Squad — $135.1 million
- Jason Bourne — $22.7 million
- Bad Moms — $14.2 million
- The Secret Life Of Pets — $11.6 million
- Star Trek Beyond — $10.2 million
- Nine Lives — $6.5 million
- Lights Out — $6 million
- Nerve — $4.9 million
- Ghostbusters — $4.8 million
- Ice Age: Collision Course — $4.3 million
