The Suicide Squad Estimated Opening Box Office Revealed

The Suicide Squad‘s opening weekend box office has been revealed, and it’s looking like James Gunn‘s version of the franchise will get off to a nice (if not modest) start. Industry projections track The Suicide Squad for a $30-40 million opening weekend, domestically. That may seem low for a major comic book movie if measuring by old box office metrics; but in the post-pandemic world, Warner Bros. is looking at Suicide Squad to do more than just generate ticket sales. It seems like this film’s opening will be one of the more muddled and confusing ones of 2021, for a number of reasons…

The Suicide Squad is arguably the biggest film to date that Warner Bros. has released on HBO Max at the same time in theaters. More to the point: The Suicide Squad is probably the one film in Warner Bros.’ 2021 movie slate that has the best chance of bringing in new subscribers to HBO Max. For that reason alone, WB may be willing to pass on the usual box office expectations, in order to further pump up their streaming service. As it stands, The Suicide Squad has already earned $7 million overseas, and won’t have much in the way of competition in US theaters – at least until Ryan Reynold’s video game action movie Free Guy drops next week. Overall, Suicide Squad is expected to earn $70 million worldwide from its opening weekend.

That all said, the 2016 Suicide Squad opened to $133 million domestic and $267 million worldwide, before ultimately earning $746 million and one Oscar. Suffice to say, no one expects The Suicide Squad to hit those kinds of numbers.

Still, it makes a certain amount of sense for Warner Bros. to lean into The Suicide Squad as an HBO Max play, more so than a theatrical one (even if writer/director James Gunn may feel passionately opposed to that view). Warner Bros. has already invested in a Suicide Squad spinoff series on HBO Max, centered on John Cena’s character, Peacemaker. In just the last day or so it’s been confirmed that James Gunn has another DC project in the works, which may or may not be related to The Suicide Squad, as well, and could possibly be released on HBO Max, as well. So getting fans into Gunn’s DC Universe through the streaming service now could definitely end up being very lucrative, later.

The Suicide Squad will bring back Viola Davis as Amanda Waller, Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn, Joel Kinnaman as Colonel Rick Flag, and Jai Courtney as Captain Boomerang. Joining them are David Dastmalchian as Polka-Dot Man, Steve Agee as King Shark, Daniela Melchior as Ratcatcher 2, Idris Elba as Bloodsport, John Cena as Peacemaker, Nathan Fillion as T.D.K., Pete Davidson as Blackguard, Flula Borg as Javelin, Mayling Ng as Mongal, Peter Capaldi as The Thinker, Michael Rooker as Savant, Alice Braga as Sol Soria, and Sean Gunn as Weasel.

The Suicide Squad is set to be released both in theaters and on HBO Max on August 6th.

Source: Variety