‘Suicide Squad’ Dramatic Second-Weekend Drop Just Shy of ‘Batman v Superman’ Freefall

DC Comics anti-hero movie plummets by more than 67 percent

| August 14, 2016 @ 9:03 AM
Suicide Squad Jared Leto Margot Robbie

While Warner Bros. tentpole “Suicide Squad” came in at No. 1 this weekend with an estimated $43.8 million, it’s not really a figure to brag about.

Having made $133.7 million on its debut last week, the big budget anti-hero movie’s second weekend grosses represent an abysmal 67.2 percent drop.

That’s rivaled by the studio’s other superhero movie that sputtered: “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice,” which suffered a devastating 69.1 percent drop its second weekend at the box office, only raking in $51.8 million after debuting with a whopping $166 million.

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The Ben Affleck-Henry Cavill film had a bigger drop-off than “X-Men Origins: Wolverine” and “Elektra,” which had declines of 69 percent — still worse than “Suicide Squad,” starring Will Smith and Margot Robbie.

Seeing as the David Ayer-directed film had a $175-million price tag — and that’s not even counting the marketing budget, which was likely in the tens of millions — the film’s drop-off isn’t quite as detrimental as it was for “BvS,” made on a massive production budget of $250 million.

But that’s not saying much.

According to Box Office Mojo, the two comic-book-based films that had biggest second weekend drop-offs were 2010’s “Jonah Hex” and 2003’s “Hulk” (both 69.7 percent), although they didn’t open nearly as huge as both of this year’s Warner Bros. DC Comics movies.

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“Jonah Hex” debuted to $5.4 million, whereas “Hulk” opened to $62.1 million — chump change in comparison to the both superhero movies out of Warners.

Fox’s “Fantastic Four” also earned the dubious distinction of second-weekend weakness in 2015. It earned only $25.7 million its opening weekend but also suffered a devastating blow when it grossed 68.2 percent less its second weekend. “Watchmen” also followed with a 67.7 percent decline in 2009.

Here are other examples of weak second weekends for superhero films: “Punisher: War Zone” (down by 67.6 percent), “Kick-Ass 2” (67.2 percent) and “X-Men: The Last Stand” (66.9 percent).

Also Read: 6 Reasons Why 'Captain America' Casts Big Shadow Over 'Batman v Superman'

Superhero Drop-offs chart

Vulgar, Mean and Sexist: 6 Ways 'Suicide Squad' Is the Donald Trump of Superhero Movies

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Presidential candidate and comic book film share dubious traits

Much like Donald Trump's inexplicable rise to the top of the Republican presidential ticket, "Suicide Squad" is doing bang-up business in spite of plenty of criticism. At this stage, both Trump and "Squad" have been called every name in the book. Indeed, the two share a litany of dubious traits that we've collected here. Beware, spoilers ensue:

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