Suicide Squad faced a barrage of negative reviews last week. Flixist’s own Matthew Razak was mixed on Suicide Squad, noting that the movie is a serviceable tonal mess comprised of two competing films that never come together. The mixed-to-negative critical reception drove some DC film fans to pitch a defensive fit, resulting in a silly petition to squash Rotten Tomatoes.
Despite all the negativity, Suicide Squad was able to do big business and break August box office records.
Suicide Squad was the number one movie at the box office, taking in an estimated $135.1 million domestically on opening weekend. This beats the $94.3 million that Guardians of the Galaxy (aka the movie that Suicide Squad desperately aped) earned in 2014. In addition, Suicide Squad took in the highest Thursday-night and opening-day August totals, with $20.5 million and $65.2 million, respectively. Adding the foreign box office numbers, Suicide Squad earned an impressive $267.1 million worldwide.
This release reminds me of Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice and Man of Steel. These DC films have proven extremely divisive, though they have done good business regardless of the fan polarization. This may be setting a trend with the DC cinematic universe: they’re films that some people dislike and that others like a lot (sometimes defensively). Maybe Patty Jenkins’ Wonder Woman will buck the trend.
[via Box Office Mojo]
