Why ‘the Suicide Squad’ is disappointed at the box office

Despite the best-laid plans from Hollywood studio and theater operators, the movie theater industry is still struggling to recover from COVID-19.

For a while, the box office seemed poised for a comeback, with a streak of record-breaking pandemic-era opening weekends, including “A Quiet Place Part II” ($ 48 million), ” F9 ”($ 70 million) and“ Black Widow ”($ 80 million) in June and July. Despite some theatrical successes at the right time, multiplexes are not yet free at home.

The fierce battle facing the film industry was lit up last weekend with the release of “The Suicide Squad”. The R-rated comic book adaptation had all the makings of a box office success: stellar reviews, charismatic super-villains, and the cinematic anomaly of Sylvester Stallone as a digitized shark. However, the Warner Bros. fell short of expectations, earning $ 26.5 million in its first three days of North America release. “The Suicide Squad” generated an additional $ 35 million internationally, bringing its total to $ 72.2 million. These numbers, while not entirely unexpected given the ongoing pandemic, are disappointing as the studio spent $ 185 million to produce the film, and at least $ 100 million more on promotional efforts, in the hopes of directing its DC property in a direction that is both critical and commercially viable.

So what went wrong?

On the one hand, the delta variant has increased the number of COVID-19 cases in the country, making the public more hesitant to visit their local multiplex. In an interview with Variety Last week John Fithian, head of the National Association of Theater Owners (NATO), acknowledged the worrying lack of consumer confidence. But, as more people get vaccinated, he hopes moviegoers will return.

“This level of confidence has improved a lot with the increase in immunization rates,” said Fithian. “I hope the delta trough, let’s call it that, is short term.”

At the same time, the film was not only available on the big screen. It was released simultaneously on HBO Max, which likely cannibalized ticket sales to an unknowable degree.

“The question remains consistent as to whether the results were influenced by the pandemic, a date-and-date exit strategy, consumer preferences – or a combination of all three,” says Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore.

In 2021, box office receipts are no longer the only way to determine the financial success or failure of a film. It’s good for something like “The Suicide Squad,” which is expensive and has no chance of making a profit on its theatrical release. In the case of “The Suicide Squad,” as well as the entire Warner Bros. 2021 movie roster, the studio is banking on increasing HBO Max subscribers in addition to selling movie tickets.

HBO Max reported on Sunday that “The Suicide Squad” had the second most-watched opening weekend of any film released simultaneously on the platform. Since the company didn’t provide any metrics to back up this statistic, it’s unclear how many people actually watched the movie between Friday and Sunday. More importantly, it’s unclear whether “The Suicide Squad” inspired any new HBO Max subscribers, a prerequisite for a major streaming release.

“As the country faces new challenges due to the COVID variant, we are pleased to continue to provide fans with the ability to watch movies at home,” said HBO Executive Vice President and General Manager Max , Andy Forssell, in a statement. “Many chose to do just that because ‘Suicide Squad’ became the second most viewed film over an opening weekend on HBO Max since we began day and date releases with theaters.”

“The Suicide Squad” is a marketing dilemma because it’s not exactly a sequel or spinoff. Rather, it’s a rework of the Warner Bros. movie. of 2016’s “Suicide Squad,” which grossed a ton of money in theaters ($ 746 million worldwide) despite terrible reviews.

For comic book fans, Gunn’s reimagining provided an exciting opportunity for a hip filmmaker to offer his take on a bunch of consumable super-villains. Unlike its predecessor, “The Suicide Squad” was widely praised by critics (96% on Rotten Tomatoes) and moviegoers (“B + CinemaScore). For those unfamiliar with comic book lore, however, it has maybe been confusing to distinguish between the two almost identical titles released about five years apart.

“While fans of the first ‘Suicide Squad’ movie and DC aficionados would understandably be aware of the distinctions between the 2016 release and this edition, more casual viewers may have had some confusion about their differences,” said Dergarabedian.

In the latest iteration of the reckless villain comic book adaptation, director James Gunn, the filmmaker behind Marvel’s hit “Guardians of the Galaxy” series, brought in Margot Robbie as Deranged Harley Quinn and Viola Davis as stylish operator Amanda Waller, and added Idris Elba and John Cena into the mix. Despite an animated cast, “The Suicide Squad” lacked the kind of star power that fueled the original with a draw like Will Smith in Deadshot or a ubiquitous villain like Jared Leto’s Joker.

“The Suicide Squad” also landed an R rating (the original, directed by David Ayer, was PG-13), which limits younger audience members.

Dergarabedian maintains the best marketing and promotion efforts Hollywood has to offer won’t do much if COVID-19 keeps people at home. “As long as the industry operates in this unusual environment, we will continue to stumble a bit in the dark trying to figure it all out,” he said.

It’s the harsh reality of releasing a big-budget movie in the midst of a pandemic, which could lead to complications for high-profile films slated for 2021, like the James Bond sequel “No Time to Die” , Tom Cruise’s “Top Gun: Maverick” and Marvel’s “Eternals”. Given the uncertainty surrounding the public health crisis, will these films stay true to their original release plans or will the big movies start to be delayed again?