Normally, the malevolent members of the Suicide Squad would be fine just stealing millions from poor, unsuspecting souls. After all, they’re bad guys. It’s what they do. This weekend, though, they made their money the old-fashioned way: They earned it.
Suicide Squad rampaged to a massive $135.1 million (estimated, of course). That’s about $40 million more than Guardians of the Galaxy earned two summers ago, when it set an all-time earnings record for August. That means that the “worst of the worst” had by far the best August opening in history.
Granted, some might argue that Suicide Squad was still robbing its customers, considering the lackluster reviews it garnered. (I didn’t like it much, either.) Still, it’s not like Batman can arrest these ne’er-do-wells for bad scripting, can he?
Jason Bourne may have his memory back, but his namesake movie had a weekend he’d rather forget. The espionage actioner banked just $22.7 million—a week-over-week loss of around 61%—to fall to second place. Maybe the United States government is no match for the super-assassin, but clearly, Harley Quinn has the guy’s number.
Bad Moms ($14.2 million), The Secret Life of Pets ($11.6 million) and Star Trek Beyond ($10.2 million) finished third, fourth and fifth, respectively. Star Trek’s rapid fall through the Top Five must be a bit dispiriting for its overseers at Paramount, given that it has “only” earned $127.9 million. That’s not couch-cushion change, to be sure, but given that Paramount spent an estimated $185 million to make Star Trek Beyond—not counting marketing costs—it seems the Enterprise’s orbit is rapidly decaying.
Still, Star Trek’s performance was strong enough to keep Nine Lives, the weekend’s other major release, outside the Top Five. The Kevin Spacey talking cat flick (a phrase I never thought I’d write) scratched out just $6.5 million to finish sixth. I’m not sure how much its makers spent to create Nine Lives, but I’m thinking it might need a few of those lives just to turn a profit.
Final figures update: 1. Suicide Squad, $133.7 million; 2. Jason Bourne, $22.4 million; 3. Bad Moms, $14 million; 4. The Secret Life of Pets, $11.5 million; 5. Star Trek Beyond, $10 million; 6. Nine Lives, $6.2 million.
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