Suicide Squad Defies Critics by Remaining Box Office Champ

Like Batman v Superman, Suicide Squad is becoming yet another Warner Bros slash DC property that defies critics. The film is however fairing better with moviegoers. A score of 7.4/10 is by far better than the critic rank of 4.7/10 on RottenTomatoes.

Suicide Squad Wins Third Weekend at Box Office

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Call the plot thin. Call the characters shallow. Call the directing choppy. None of these complaints have deterred Suicide Squad from printing money at the box office domestically and worldwide. What's Warner Bros' secret? Well, great marketing for one. Both BvS and Suicide Squad had incredible trailers, TV spots, and other marketing content. It would seem that these alone have at least left a taste for the film in moviegoers mouths, even without positive feedback.

Ben-Hur Flops

One film that couldn't find its marketing legs was Ben-Hur. Going into its opening weekend, the film was only able to pull in $11.4 million domestically. Considering that the film's budget went well above $100 million, Paramount Pictures has to be scratching their heads. The cast was strong, the original is a classic, and the visuals look excellent. Perhaps audiences are showing symptoms of burnout for remakes? The marketing for Ben-Hur was okay, but nothing like Suicide Squad.

Paramount isn't likely to live this down any time soon either. The film should be listed on biggest flops of 2016 by the time the year is done.

Suicide Squad Lives On

 

In its third outing, the DC adaptation saw a strong weekend with a $20.7 million haul. The film's domestic total is now at $262.3 million, making it the second strongest Will Smith release since Independence Day. Smith has to be stoked, considering he's had a tough run in the past few years. The film could go on to overtake ID4, making it the actor's all-time best. Maybe the actor should stop starring in film's and focus on supporting ensembles.

Worldwide, Suicide Squad has now made $572.7 million. And, thanks to the film's staying power, the box office is up about a quarter over what it was during the same weekend last year.

What do you think? Does Suicide Squad prove that, in terms of box office strength, critics no longer matter?

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