The Suicide Squad is a sequel/soft-reboot to the original Suicide Squad, released in 2016. The movie is directed by James Gunn and was released on the 6th of August.
The film has been well-received by critics as well as fans. It currently has a 91% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and is certified fresh.
The Cast
The film stars many returning faces from the original Suicide Squad including, Margot Robbie (as Harley Quinn), Joel Kinnaman (as Rick Flagg), Jai Courtney as (Captain Boomerang), and Viola Davis (as Amanda Waller). The new additions include John Cena, Idris Elba, Peter Capaldi, and Sylvester Stallone. The movie features various characters from the famous Task Force X, aka Suicide Squad, a popular team of villains in DC Comics.
Storyline
The film follows supervillains Harley Quinn, Bloodsport, Peacemaker, and a group of odd criminals from Belle Reve prison as they are dropped off on the distant, enemy-infested island of Corto Maltese. The team of supervillains is led by Col. Rick Flagg, who Amanda Waller assigns.
The Suicide Squad Opening Record
The Suicide Squad has set a new record in terms of opening weekends. It has set a new record for the best R-Rated opening during the pandemic.
The film raked in an estimated $26.5 million during its opening weekend, which is considered a new record amidst the ongoing pandemic. The film was simultaneously released in theaters and on HBO Max.
However, these numbers are not that impressive considering the $185 million budget of the film. In the past, DCEU movies have seen better opening week collections. For instance, the original Suicide Squad raked in $133 million during its opening weekend. Similarly, more recent examples include the Birds Of Prey movie, which earned $33.5 million during its opening.
Where did it go wrong?
The Suicide Squad has been received well by both the fans and critics, meaning it’s a good film. However, the business strategy of WarnerBros is very sketchy. They have released the movie on HBO Max without any extra charges and premiered it in theaters.
As more cases of the new variant rise, many people prefer to watch the movie at home on their HBO Max subscription for their safety. This affected the box office business of The Suicide Squad. The film was directed by the mastermind James Gunn, but it still failed to attract audiences to a movie theater.
The entire HBO Max element and piracy play a huge role in destroying the film’s box office business. The studio’s poor choice of naming the movie “The Suicide Squad” instead of something like “Suicide Squad 2” feels like they are notifying the audience that they’ve already seen this movie.
Many people are also blaming the covid restrictions for the poor box office business. However, that is not true as theaters have not been closed recently, and people have been vaccinated. So the argument about covid restrictions being the cause of poor B.O numbers is invalid.
The main reason for the poor Box Office reception is the decision to release the film simultaneously on a streaming platform and a theater, as we have mentioned earlier. We have to wait for the numbers to come in to see if the movie is a Box Office disaster or not.
Box Office is currently a wild business due to losses faced by theaters during the past year. Let’s see how well the other upcoming big-budget movies perform in theaters.