Weekend box office: Suicide Squad shatters August record with $133.7 million

Proving fan anticipation trumps critical disdain, audiences turned out in record numbers to catch Suicide Squad, leading the DC Comics flick to the highest August opening in history with $133.7 million.

The film’s massive debut also marks the biggest opening weekend of Will Smith’s career (and his first $100 million+ opener), blasting past the $77.2 million gross of I Am Legend‘s first weekend in 2007.

Suicide Squad‘s $133.7 million trumps the $94.3 million previous August champ, Guardians of the Galaxy, grossed in 2014. The $175 million David Ayer-directed film, which also stars Margot Robbie, Jared Leto, and Viola Davis, amassed a further $133.3 million from 57 international territories for a worldwide haul of $266.9 million. IMAX numbers accounted for $18.2 million of Suicide Squad‘s receipts, the strongest-ever August showing for the format.

Judging by the film’s B+ grade on CinemaScore, audiences were seemingly less enthusiastic exiting the theater as they were heading in. Though not a terrible showing, Suicide Squad will likely fall in-step with Warner Bros.’ last superhero outing, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, and drop significantly over its sophomore frame.

As expected, Universal’s Jason Bourne took a nasty tumble in Suicide Squad‘s wake, falling 62.2 percent to No. 2 with an estimated $22.4 million. The $120-million production crossed the $100 million mark in North America Sunday on top of pulling in an additional $90.9 million from foreign markets, bringing the film’s global total to $194 million after just 10 days in release.

STX’s Bad Moms continues its impressive run at the domestic box office at No. 3, falling a mere 41.2 percent to $14 million after opening to $23.8 million last week. The R-rated, female-driven comedy follows in the footsteps of successful films like Amy Schumer’s Trainwreck, Melissa McCarthy’s Spy, and the Tina Fey/Amy Poehler vehicle Sisters as genre pictures successfully speaking to a generally underserved demographic.

After 10 days in wide release, Spy had amassed $56 million on its way to a grand total of $110 million; at the same checkpoint, Bad Moms currently trails the Paul Feig flick by a mere $5 million, meaning Mila Kunis and company could be looking at a final number approaching the $100 million mark by the end of their run.

At No. 4, Illuminations and Universal’s The Secret Life of Pets adds $11.5 million to its domestic total of $319.5 million. Worldwide, the film crosses the $500 million mark this weekend.

Rounding out the top five is Star Trek Beyond with an estimated $10 million, which continues the film’s downward spiral as it drops over 58 percent for the second consecutive weekend. The film’s domestic total hovers around $127.7 million as of Sunday.

Outside the top five, EuropaCorp’s critically panned Nine Lives, which features Kevin Spacey voicing an animated cat, meets modest expectations as it earns an estimated $6.2 million over its debut weekend. Mike Birbiglia’s Don’t Think Twice continues to impress in limited release, adding $373,556 to its growing total of $679,404 after notching some of the year’s highest per-screen averages during its first ($92,835) and second ($31,022) weekends in theaters.

Year-to-date box office is up approximately 4 percent from 2015. Check out the Aug. 5 – 7 weekend actuals below.

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

7. Lights Out – $6 million

8. Nerve – $4.9 million

9. Ghostbusters – $4.7 million

10. Ice Age: Collision Course – $4.3 million