For the second week in a row, Warner Bros. Pictures’ film directed by James Gunn, The Suicide Squad clings to the top of the UK box office.
Disney’s Jungle Cruise held onto second place with another $2.6m (£1.9m) for a running total of around $8.4m (£6.1m) followed by kids films Space Jam: A New Legacy and Croods 2 taking a total gross now of $12.3m (£8.97m), $8.1m (£5.9m) respectively.
Matt Damon starring in Stillwater released Friday with around $500k in total, and critics haven’t been too kind to the Eone release and it doesn’t look like it’ll hold strong next weekend.
The Suicide Squad Fails To Ignite Ticket Sales
Credit: DC Films
Read more: The Suicide Squad’s Trailer Has Been Released
Grossing an estimated $3.1m (£2.3m) across the weekend for a running total of $11m (£8m) in its second week, elsewhere in the US The Suicide Squad debuted with what Deadline calls ‘the Best R-Rated Opening during the pandemic’ with $26.5m (£36m).
Considering the good reviews for the film, the day and date release on HBO Max stateside, the films box office revenue is disappointing, but expected.
For comparison, the 2017 entry opened with a $133.7m opening weekend in North America.
The brand has taken a hit, and although the original film back in 2017 ended on over $700m worldwide, this film, even with James Gunn at the helm, lacks star power.
It lacks big characters people outside of comic book/film fans know and sits on just over $70m worldwide.
The 2017 release had Will Smith a proven bonafide box office draw, even with some hiccups along the way, he’s a huge brand.
The same reason why Jungle Cruise isn’t doing as badly as expected, Dwayne Johnson is a box office machine.
We also had the Joker, a character with box office appeal, no matter how varied reviews were for Jared Leto’s performance.
Lack of Box Office Stars?
Credit: DC Films
Read more: When Is The Suicide Squad Coming Out In The UK?
The biggest star in the 2021 lineup is Margot Robbie, and Harley Quinn has been a bit overused with Birds of Prey last year, and isn’t enough to draw people to buy tickets.
Considering in the US you can watch this at home on HBO Max, many may prefer to take a chance at home, rather than parting with money at a theatre.
The top 5 in the US holds The Suicide Squad debuting at number one, Jungle Cruise in second similar to the UK with a $15m haul a drop of around 55% from the previous week.
Old from M. Night Shyamalan took another $4m to finish third, and Black Widow held onto fourth with a further $4m leading to a worldwide gross now of $350m.
Certainly, the film has been hampered by not having that all-important Chinese release as we could have expected this to reach $500m at least.
The film is also subject to further controversy with the Scarlett Johannsson lawsuit we covered here Scarlett Johannsson Sues Disney.
One has to wonder either way the lawsuit goes, the rising critique from Marvel and other producers, along with the strategy Disney has employed with Premium Access gaining mixed results…
Whether CEO Bob Chapek days in charge of Disney are perhaps numbered.
What do you make of the box office numbers this week?
Have you seen The Suicide Squad? Have you visited the cinema?
Let us know in the comments below! We love to hear from you.
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