5 Reasons Why 'Suicide Squad' Slayed at the Box Office

One thing’s for sure, “Suicide Squad” is not your grandmother’s movie.

The film made a whopping estimated box office take of $135.1 million this weekend.

And its success is due in large part to interest among young audiences as well as audiences of color.

Also Read: 'Suicide Squad' Destroys August Record With $135 Million Opening

In spite of critical pans, the movie came out on top, shattering the August opening record previously held by Disney-Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy.”

“Obviously there was a disconnect from what reviewers wrote and what audiences felt after seeing the movie,” Jeff Goldstein, Warner Bros. Executive Vice President of domestic film distribution, told TheWrap.

The film’s massive debut also helped the studio cross the $1 billion mark, making Warner Bros. the only film production and distribution outfit to exceed $1 billion at the domestic box office 16 years in a row. (The studio has surpassed $1 billion 17 out of last 18 years, which is also an Industry record.)

Also Read: 10 WTF Moments in 'Suicide Squad'

Here are five reasons why “Suicide Squad” slayed at the box office this weekend:

1. Will Smith hit the bullseye.
The anti-hero mashup’s massive opening marks the first time a Will Smith movie has exceeded $100 million upon its debut. His gun-slinging Deadshot proved to be a huge draw for audiences, as 23 percent of those surveyed through comScore’s PostTrak said they went to the movie to see him. Smith, already clued into the movie’s huge debut estimates, said it himself during a recent ABC interview: “I’m back!”

2. Margot Robbie pulled people in.
PostTrak data had 21 percent of those surveyed listing the Aussie actress, who plays Harley Quinn, as a key reason they went to see it.

Also Read: 'Suicide Squad' Mid-Credits Scene: The Implications of Amanda Waller's Big Meeting

3. Diversity paid off.
The film’s lead cast represented an ethnic melting pot of actors. In turn, casting diverse leads brought in more people, with 34 percent of those surveyed indicating the ensemble cast of villains was the main reason they went to see “Squad.” Indeed, the movie’s opening marks the biggest of all time for Robbie, Jared Leto, director David Ayer, as well as the rest of the leading cast. African American and Hispanic moviegoers made up a huge part of the “Suicide Squad” audience. According to PostTrak, those two demographics gave the film a combined, massive 81 percent positive score.

4. Millennials were way into it.
The film’s biggest fans skewed young. According to Cinemascore surveys, 76 percent of those under 35 gave the movie a grade of A- and 28 percent of those surveyed under the age of 18 gave it a solid A. The overall score was pulled down by older audiences, as 24 percent of those over 35 gave it a B+.

5. Social media made a big difference.
The first indication of this was when Ayer shared a first look photo of Jared Leto as The Joker and it nearly broke the internet. That was just the start of an ongoing rollout of photos and teaser videos shared by Leto, Cara Delevingne, Margot Robbie and other cast members. The result: “Suicide Squad” inspired a total of more than 2.1 million conversations on social media, according to comScore’s latest PreAct results.

18 'Suicide Squad' Characters Ranked, Worst to Best (Photos)

"Suicide Squad" is technically a movie about bad guys, but they can't all be bad, right? Click through to find out! (Spoilers ahead.)
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18. Griggs

Abuses prisoners at Belle Reve, collaborates with the Joker, never gets any kind of comeuppance. I guess this ranking will have to do.
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17. Incubus

What was this CGI monstrosity? He looks like a cast-off from “Gods of Egypt.”
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16. Batman

Remember that time he punched Harley Quinn in the face underwater and all the dudes in the theater laughed? Not a great moment for humanity there. And yet it's nearly Batman's entire involvement in this movie.
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15. Slipknot

When he randomly showed up in the movie as a member of the Suicide Squad without ever being mentioned before, my friend leaned over and was like, “Who is that?” And that about sums up Slipknot, since he got his head blown off like 45 seconds later.
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14. Rick Flag

Had two Gs in his name in the comics, yet they removed one of them here? Also he's one-note and boring. That probably matters more.
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13. Enchantress

This 6,000-year-old magic lady who builds a magic hole in the sky that can apparently knock over aircraft carriers thousands of miles away had to ask someone how to destroy the human armies.
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12. June Moone

I guess she's better than Enchantress by default, by virtue of simply of being the tangible human half of that CGI horror.
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11. Jonny Frost

A Joker henchman who makes absolutely zero impression. Pretty hard to pull off!
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10. Monster T

Hey remember that time Common got cast in a franchise comic-book movie as a known comic book character only to get murdered in his first scene? Yeesh. This character was wasted so badly I didn't even have a picture of him to use for this slide.
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9. Lieutenant GQ Edwards

This dude, played by Scott Eastwood, was treated in pre-release as a mystery character who either had a secret identity or would become a famous comic book dude. And then he spent the end movie hovering in the background before blowing himself up. All right.
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8. The Joker

Compared with most of the other nonsense in the movie, Jared Leto's Joker is inoffensive and sparingly used enough to make it in the upper half of the rankings.
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7. Harley Quinn

Has characteristics and established personal motivations, making her an instant standout in "Suicide Squad." Except it's all ruined when it's revealed that all she, the Joker's girlfriend, really wants is an upper-middle-class lifestyle with a husband who wears a suit to work.
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6. Katana

Really loves her husband, who lives in her soul-stealing sword. They should do a movie about her trying to figure out how to get him out of there.
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5. Amanda Waller

There's a part where she randomly murders a bunch of FBI agents who work for her and it was a pretty awesome moment, even if it doesn't make any sense.
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4. Deadshot

Does the most killing of any of them, so that's cool. Is played by Will Smith, so that's even cooler. Hates Batman, so he's basically my best friend.
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3. Killer Croc

Nobody ever says what it was he did to get locked in a blacksite prison forever. I assume it was just racism.
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2. Captain Boomerang

This dude I identify with strongly: he's got bad facial hair, is constantly drinking beer and is woefully unqualified for battling magic monsters. Though he doesn't really contribute at all, he's my favorite of the bunch.
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1. El Diablo

I like his tattoos and also his ability to set a million people on fire at once. I also identify strongly with his desire to not kill a million people at once -- which, in the context of this movie, makes him easily the best.
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