James Gunn’s reboot/redux of the Suicide Squad 2 finally debuted in theatres and on HBO Max this past week. The hot DC property had been one of the most awaited films of the year and everybody was keen to see what MCU maverick James Gunn would bring to DC with his crazy, R-rated action flick.
Although the film has received unanimous critical acclaim (with some pundits going as far as saying that this is DC Universe’s best entry to date), the box office results have been less than satisfactory. We dive deep into this aspect below.
So What Happened at the box office?
In the US and Canada, the R-rated DC adaptation opened with a lackluster 26.5 million dollars. Combined with a gross of 45.7 million in the rest of the world, the total opening weekend came to a total of 72.2 million. This would have been a fantastic result for an R-rated film but The Suicide Squad 2 has a monstrous budget of 185 million, not including prints and advertising. When compared to the budget of the film, the opening weekend thus represents a problem.
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Cinema closures and social distancing in the pandemic meant that this film was never going to achieve the $200 million+ opening weekend of the first Suicide Squad film, all the way back in 2016. However, what is most concerning is that the film also failed to match Birds of Prey’s opening weekend, all the way back in February 2020, the start of the pandemic.
Suicide Squad 2 On HBO MAX
So why weren’t the audiences more interested this time around? Was it due to the fact that the film was available on HBO Max for free for all subscribers? Was it due to the fact that pristine pirated copies of the film were leaked as soon as it was available on streaming? Or was it due to the fact that people were apprehensive of seeing the film in theatres due to the Delta variant of the pandemic that has disrupted life everywhere?
Did Suicide Squad (2016) damage the brand irrevocably?
Another factor needs to be considered as well. The first Suicide Squad was destroyed by the critics and received in a lukewarm fashion by the fans as well. The first film clearly did not inspire confidence in director David Ayer by Warner Brothers who chose to go the route of a quasi-reboot. In the marketing campaign as well, the new film was differentiated from the previous outing by all means, and only the zany, crazy genius of James Gunn was put front and center to push audiences to see the film.
James Gunn is undoubtedly a great creative force and his work on MCU’s Guardians of the Galaxy has been highly important. But that was a PG-13 property mostly loved by teen MCU fans. The Suicide Squad, on the other hand, is a hard R adventure with plenty of gore and guts so the same crowd that loved Gunn in the MCU might not have showed to support his DC film.
Whatever the reason for the film’s underperformance, it is clear that The Suicide Squad will not be a hit in theatres that many Warner Bros executives might have hoped it would be. Since Warner Bros does not release streaming data, as opposed to its rival Disney, we might not know how well The Suicide Squad did on streaming platforms.
It is apparent that the studio wanted to capture the crazy energy of Deadpool by giving Gunn complete creative freedom to do what he pleased but the end result falls short from a financial perspective. However, all is not lost and the film might have good legs leading up into August and then September. One thing, however, is apparent: DC needed a hit after back-to-back lackluster performances of Birds of Prey and Wonder Woman 1984 and it is a shame that this film will not be the monstrous hit that many hoped it would be.