The Worst Heroes Ever took over the box office this weekend, rewriting the history books in the process.
As expected, Suicide Squad (read our review) earned the #1 spot in a landslide, earning $135 million during its first three days. That shatters the August record for largest opening weekend, surpassing Guardians of the Galaxy‘s $94.3 million two years ago. Though Suicide Squad earned a polarizing response from critics, its pitch-perfect marketing campaign sold audiences on the premise long before the review embargo lifted. In a summer that has mostly seen one disappointment after another, the latest DC Extended Universe installment had viewers hooked from the get-go, and no amount of controversy was going to stop it from becoming a commercial smash.
Suicide Squad has already made back its production budget when international figures are accounted for; the global total currently stands at $267.1 million, and it should only grow from there. The film won’t have much in the way of direct competition throughout the month, meaning that it should be the tentpole of choice for moviegoers as we move through August. It will be interesting to see what impact (if any) the mixed word-of-mouth has on its second weekend drop-off, but Suicide Squad is in great shape. Summer 2016 opened with a bang (Captain America: Civil War) and it’ll close with one too.
Falling to second is last week’s champ Jason Bourne, which made $22.7 million in its second weekend. The action sequel obviously couldn’t content with the Suicide Squad hype machine and took a 61.6 percent decrease. So far, it’s brought in $103.4 million domestically and $195.3 million worldwide.
The #3 film is Bad Moms. The comedy made $14.2 million in its second weekend to raise its Stateside total to $51 million.
Coming in fourth is The Secret Life of Pets with $11.5 million. The animated hit now stands at $319.5 million domestically, making the decision to move ahead on a sequel understandable.
Rounding out the top five is Star Trek Beyond. The sci-fi sequel slid down the charts with its target demographic seeing Suicide Squad. Justin Lin’s film made $10.2 million in its third weekend and is now at $127.9 million in the U.S. Worldwide, it’s grossed $194.4 million and has yet to open in key foreign markets (China), so Paramount should see a solid return when it’s all said and done.
Opening in sixth is Nine Lives. The critically-panned comedy about Kevin Spacey becoming a cat clearly didn’t have much pull, and its toxic word-of-mouth only encouraged casual audiences to stay away. It made just $6.5 million in its first three days.
Horror movie Lights Out is the #7 film with $6 million. It increased its domestic total to $54.7 million.
In eighth is Nerve, with $4.9 million. The thriller is now up to $26.8 million.
The Ghostbusters reboot comes in ninth this weekend with $4.8 million. It has now made $116.7 million in the States. The global total stands at $179.5 million, so it’s made its $144 million budget back, but it’s hard to call it a glowing success.
Capping off the top ten is Ice Age: Collision Course. The family film made $4.3 million this weekend to raise its domestic total to $53.5 million.
[NOTE: These are only weekend box office estimates — based on Friday and Saturday ticket sales coupled with adjusted expectations for Sunday. Official weekend box office results will be released on Monday, August 8 — at which time we’ll update this post with any changes.]
