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Those looking at “The Suicide Squad” as a box office barometer should look elsewhere.
The Warner Bros. movie, which follows a group of DC villains as they embark on a dangerous and deadly mission for the US government, fell short of theatrical expectations during its opening weekend. It grossed $ 26.5 million at the domestic box office. Expectations were set at around $ 35 million.
The United States is averaging more than 100,000 new cases of Covid-19 per day for the first time since February, with the highly contagious delta variant causing a resurgence. While it’s easy to blame the virus, it’s probably not the only factor behind the poor performance of “The Suicide Squad”.
“It’s the ‘dog ate my homework’ excuse to blame only the delta variant,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore. “There isn’t a single factor that caused these results.”
“The Suicide Squad” was released on HBO Max the same day the film hit theaters at no additional cost to those who already had a subscription. While it’s likely that some would-be moviegoers chose to watch on the streaming platform due to coronavirus fears, it’s just as likely that a large portion watched it on the service because it was free and because the previous “Suicide Squad” was not well received.
“When it comes to box office and audience retention, sequels are paying for the sins of their predecessors,” said Shawn Robbins, chief analyst at Boxoffice.com. “It was a staple of franchises before the pandemic, it’s true now, and it always will be after the pandemic.”
James Gunn’s standalone sequel received higher ratings from critics than David Ayer’s one five years ago, but the film may have suffered from a one-word title to the first.
There is also the “R” rating of the film, which would have kept some of the young viewers away from the cinemas. These audiences could watch the film on HBO Max without parental permission. The first film was rated PG-13.
The film raised around $ 4 million in previews on Thursday, bringing Friday’s total, which includes the two days, to around $ 12 million. Saturday and Sunday added $ 14 million in ticket sales. With an additional $ 45.7 million in international markets, “The Suicide Squad” totaled $ 72.2 million in worldwide sales.
With a budget of $ 185 million, far higher than other R-rated superhero movies like “Logan,” “Deadpool,” “Deadpool 2,” and “Joker,” “The Suicide Squad” would still be in need of. a solid box office to be profitable.
Ayer’s 2016 film looked like Will Smith as Deadshot, a cameo of Ben Affleck Batman and Jared Leto playing the Joker, Robbins said.
The premise of the film was also fresh. Audiences were eager to see how a group of jailed comic book villains would react to being drafted by the U.S. government to take part in suicide missions.
With the sequel, Gunn’s film brought back Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn as well as Viola Davis as Amanda Waller and Joel Kinnaman as Rick Flag, but the rest of the surviving cast of the first film is notably absent. High-profile replacements included Idris Elba, John Cena, and Sylvester Stallone, who lent his voice to a computer-generated humanoid shark.
The story is more concise than the first, but since this is a standalone feature film, with no clear connection to the rest of the Extended Universe of DC films, there is less urgency to see it on the weekend. opening. The only connection to future projects is the character of Peacemaker, played by Cena, who will have his own spinoff show. DC fans likely tipped in to see which characters would survive the movie, as it was teased that few would.
“In the end, even though just a few weeks ago, it was arguably the experience of going to the cinema that attracted customers, over time, it is the quality of the films that becomes more and more the focus, ”Dergarabedian said. “Especially when moviegoers have the opportunity to watch at home.”
Warner Bros. will continue its hybrid strategy throughout the year, while Disney will reorient its release strategy towards exclusive theatrical releases starting with “Free Guy” this Friday.
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