As expected, Warner Bros. and DC Comics topped the box office with their villain group Suicide Squad. The antihero flick opened to massive numbers, $135.1 million, for a huge $31,752 average from 4,255 locations. Squad was wildly anticipated all year by many comic book fans, being a team-up between several villains of the Batman and Justice League comics. In the end, Squad smashed the August opening record, which was previously held by another different superhero gang, Guardians of the Galaxy ($94 million), and posted the year's third-biggest opening to date behind two other superhero films, Captain America: Civil War ($180 million) and the DC Extended Universe kick-off movie, Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice ($166 million). It also edged out the three-day debut of another edgy superhero movie from earlier this year, Deadpool ($132 million in 3 days).Superhero movies have basically been the most popular genre this year, no wonder there have been several (and Doctor Strange is still to come in November). But there are a couple of red flags for Squad here. One, it dropped an alarming 40% Friday-to-Saturday ($65 million vs. $38 million), which indicates severe front-loading. Batman v. Superman dropped 38% Friday to Saturday, but that was after Good Friday. Secondly, reviews were bad (26% on Rotten Tomatoes), a second strike on the DCEU's critical resume (Batman v. Superman ended up at 27%). The CinemaScore was a decent "B+", an improvement on Batman v. Superman's "B", but its not a fantastic grade.
Regardless though, with this and a $132 million start overseas ($267 million worldwide start), Suicide Squad is still going to be a huge hit. It still has a handful of key markets yet to open, though the movie will not be opening in China due to dark content. The lack of a China opening will probably keep it from reaching Batman v. Superman's $875 million worldwide finish, but at least $600 million should be in the cards here. Expectations were for this to open in the $130-140 million range, and Warner Bros. produced this for $175 million ($75 million less than BvS).
With the big event in town, it spelled trouble for last weekend's blockbuster Jason Bourne. The action reboot of the Matt Damon franchise was off a troubling 62% to $22.7 million, for a solid, yet unspectacular $103.4 million in 10 days, and $90 million overseas. That's a harder drop than Star Trek Beyond last weekend. Jason Bourne may have a better hold next weekend as there's little competition for action fans next weekend.
Bad Moms was the lone exception this weekend to hold well. After a very decent start last frame, the R-rated comedy was off 40% to $14.2 million, for a solid $51.1 million pick-up in 10 days. Next weekend will bring a little bit of competition from the R-rated animated comedy Sausage Party, but the female-driven flick should prove to be very profitable in the face of its $20 million budget.
The Secret Life of Pets continues to be the go-to choice for family audiences over the past month. Illumination Entertainment's latest smash was off just 39% to $11.6 million, for a huge $319.6 million pick-up in one month of release. It also expanded overseas, and has passed $500 million. If it plays out like Despicable Me 2 from here on out (next weekend's Pete's Dragon might make that a little difficult), it will come very close to matching that film's $368 million final gross. A sequel is set for July 2018 (kinda soon for a sequel).
With more competition, Star Trek Beyond fell another 59% in its third weekend to $10.2 million, for a decent, if unspectacular $127.9 million pick-up in 17 days. Beyond is on track for a finish above $150 million, but its still a drop from previous entries. It hasn't opened in most territories yet, and its approaching $200 million worldwide.
Meanwhile, the other new nationwide release failed to really make a dent, as talking animal movie Nine Lives opened to only $6.5 million in sixth place ($2,871 per-venue average). That's less than the $8-9 million that was expected, and an overall close to disastrous result for distributor EuropaCorp, which produced the film for $30 million. Despite boasting big names such as Kevin Spacey and Jennifer Garner, the film suffered from horrid reviews (5% on Rotten Tomatoes) and intense competition for families. Nine Lives earned a "B+" CinemaScore, which means it went over better with audiences than critics. Competition is pretty strong in the coming weeks from Pete's Dragon and Kubo and the Two Strings both hoping to pull in families.
Horror pic Lights Out continued to show strong staying power, off just 44% in its third frame to $6 million, for a very good $54.7 million gross in 17 days. The budget was only $4.9 million, and the final gross could approach $70 million. That's how you get a summer success, and horror films have been the most successful this season. Meanwhile, last week's teen flick Nerve fell 48% to $4.9 million, for an OK $26.9 million gross in 12 days. The YA flick looks to finish above $35 million.
The Ghostbusters remake continues to fade fast, off 53% in its fourth weekend to $4.8 million, for a decent, but not awesome $116.7 million gross in 24 days, on its way to a $130 million finish, short of its $144 million budget. Rounding out the Top 10 in its third weekend was Ice Age: Collision Course, which was hit bad by the new competition, plunging 61% to $4.3 million, for a pitiful $53.5 million gross in 17 days, or slightly higher than Continental Drift's opening weekend ($46.6 million). Course will fade fast, and finish in the $60-65 million range stateside, but it will be bailed out overseas, where it is approaching $300 million worldwide with major markets like China yet to open.
Bowing out of the Top 10 after seven weekends was Finding Dory, which has pulled in a record-smashing $473.9 million gross in 56 days. Pixar's biggest hit yet is also at $870 million worldwide, with an outside shot at a $1 billion finish.
And that's about it. Next weekend, Disney unleashes their Pete's Dragon remake, while Sony brings out their R-rated animated flick Sausage Party and Paramount opens their Meryl Streep pic Florence Foster Jenkins. None of them are expected to challenge Squad for #1, as the summer season begins to slow down.
