Weekend Wrap-Up: Suicide Starts Strong with $133.68 Million, but Signs of Long-Term Weakness
August 9, 2016
Overall, the weekend lived up to expectations, with Suicide Squad doing a little better than expected at the expense of some of its competition. For example, Jason Bourne had one of the worst sophomore stint declines of the summer. The overall box office rose 20% from last weekend hitting $229 million. Suicide Squad earned more this weekend than the entire box office earned this weekend last year, so it should come as no surprise that the year-over-year growth was stunning at 73%. Year-to-date, 2016 saw its lead over 2015 grow by more than $100 million hitting 5.3% at $7.16 billion to $6.80 billion.
There are lots of reasons for Suicide Squad to celebrate, as it crushed the record for biggest weekend in August with $133.68 million over the weekend. This not only topped Guardians of the Galaxy for the August record, but was also the fourth best opening weekend of the year, just topping Deadpool. On the downside, the film had very poor legs. As previously mentioned, the film had the seventh worst Friday to Saturday drop-off and the 29th most front-loaded opening weekend. It seems the film’s rumored $100 million plus advertising budget helped opening day, but its reviews and word-of-mouth were killing it by Saturday. There is some upside, as there are no potential monster hits until Doctor Strange opens in November. So unless Suicide Squad drops more than 70% next weekend, theater owners won’t be dumping it faster than normal, because the new releases won’t be real competition.
Jason Bourne suffered a bigger than expected decline falling 62% to $22.41 million for a ten-day total of $103.11 million. This is a sharper decline than its reviews would indicate, but Suicide Squad did hurt almost everyone.
Bad Moms was an exception to the Suicide Squad effect, as it dipped only 41% to $14.00 million over the weekend for a total of $50.85 million after ten days of release. It has already made enough to cover its entire production budget and it might break even just on its domestic theatrical run. This is good news, as R-rated comedies, especially those aimed at women, tend to struggle internationally.
The Secret Life of Pets remained in fourth place with $11.50 million over the weekend for a total of $319.52 million after a month of release. It will be interesting to see if it can finish north of $350 million. It will top Batman v Superman, which is another twist of the knife for the DCEU.
Star Trek Beyond rounded out the top five with $10.04 million over the weekend for a total of $127.74 million after three weeks of release. It won’t be able to match its $180 million production budget, but if it does well internationally and there’s synergy with the rest of the franchise, it will break even, eventually.
Nine Lives just missed the top five with $6.25 million over the weekend. Given its reviews it could have been worse. There is some good news for the cast... no one will remember this film in six months, so it won’t hurt their careers.
- Suicide Squad Comparisons
- Nine Lives Comparisons
Filed under: Weekend Wrap-up, The Secret Life of Pets, Jason Bourne, Suicide Squad, Star Trek Beyond, Bad Moms, Nine Lives, Star Trek, DC Extended Universe