Box office: Suicide Squad sets a new record for August

Critics may have hated it, but Suicide Squad — which revolves around a team of DC Comics supervillains — set new records at the box office this week.

The film — which got a 26% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, one percentage point lower than Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice — grossed an estimated $135.1 million between Thursday and Sunday nights, giving it the best opening of any movie released in August (previous champ: Guardians of the Galaxy, 2014, $94.3 million).

Suicide Squad has also already beaten the lifetime gross of every other film directed by David Ayer (previous champ: Fury, 2014, $85.8 million) as well as every other film featuring the following actors (listed here with their previous personal bests):

Margot Robbie (Harley Quinn), The Legend of Tarzan (2016, $123.3 million);
Jared Leto (the Joker), Panic Room (2002, $96.4 million);
Joel Kinnaman (Rick Flag), Safe House (2012, $126.4 million);
Jay Hernandez (Diablo), The Rookie (2002, $75.6 million);
Adam Beach (Slipknot), Cowboys & Aliens (2011, $100.2 million); and
Cara Delevigne (the Enchantress), Paper Towns (2015, $32 million).

Suicide Squad’s first-weekend gross also marks a new best opening for the following actors (listed here with their previous best first weekends):

Will Smith (Deadshot), I Am Legend (2007, $77.2 million);
Jai Courtney (Captain Boomerang), Divergent (2014, $54.6 million);
Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (Killer Croc), Thor: The Dark World (2013, $85.7 million); and
Viola Davis (Amanda Waller), Tyler Perry’s Madea Goes to Jail (2009, $41 million).

The question now is whether the film will sustain any interest over the next few weeks, or whether it will collapse as quickly as Batman v Superman did. That film and Warcraft are the only movies among this year’s top seventy domestic releases that failed to double their first-weekend gross. (Jason Bourne hasn’t doubled its first-weekend gross yet either, but this is only its second weekend. It’ll get there.)

Suicide Squad also set a new record overseas, where it earned another $132 million since opening on Wednesday, which is a much bigger opening overseas than any other August release has had. The film’s global total currently stands at $267.1 million.

The weekend’s other new wide release was Nine Lives, starring Kevin Spacey as a workaholic billionaire whose soul gets transferred into the body of a cat. The film tanked with only $6.5 million and a sixth-place rank in its first weekend.

Meanwhile, in other box-office news…

Jason Bourne earned $22.7 million and ranked second in its second week, thereby raising its domestic cume to $103.4 million. The film has earned another $91.9 million overseas for a global total of $195.3 million.

Bad Moms earned $14.2 million and ranked third in its second week, thereby raising its domestic cume to $51.1 million. The film has earned another $5.5 million overseas for a global total of $56.6 million.

The Secret Life of Pets earned $11.6 million and ranked fourth in its fifth week, thereby raising its domestic cume to $319.6 million. The film has earned another $182.6 million overseas for a global total of $502.2 million.

Star Trek Beyond earned $10.2 million and ranked fifth in its third week, thereby raising its domestic cume to $127.9 million. The film has earned another $66.5 million overseas for a global total of $194.4 million.

Lights Out earned $6 million and ranked seventh in its third week, thereby raising its domestic cume to $54.7 million. The film has earned another $31 million overseas for a global total of $85.7 million.

Nerve earned $4.9 million and ranked eighth in its second week, thereby raising its domestic cume to $26.9 million. The film has earned another $793,585 overseas for a global total of $27.7 million.

Ghostbusters earned $4.8 million and ranked ninth in its fourth week, thereby raising its domestic cume to $116.7 million. The film has earned another $62.8 million overseas for a global total of $179.5 million.

And Ice Age: Collision Course earned $4.3 million and ranked tenth in its third week, thereby raising its domestic cume to $53.5 million. The film has earned another $234.6 million overseas for a global total of $288.2 million.

Now for a bit of extra data on the year’s top-grossing animated films:

In North America, The Secret Life of Pets still ranks 12th among animated films: