LOS ANGELES -- Deadshot and his bad-guy gang hit the target this weekend as Suicide Squad notched about $134 million in the United States for the largest August opening in history.
Together with $132 million from 57 overseas markets -- including $14 million in the United Kingdom and $11 million in Olympics-gripped Brazil -- it gave the Warner Bros. dark comedy one of the best weekends of a dismal live-action summer.
"The movie started in one place. But all movies start in one place," said Jeffrey Goldstein, Warner Bros.' executive vice president of domestic theatrical distribution. "In the end, we had a major success. The cast was wickedly fun, David Ayer did a great job with the story, and the marketing was extraordinary."
He also cited a weekend in which box office overall reached $229 million, the first time, he noted, that the $200 million mark had been broken on an August weekend. "This far exceeded our expectations in every way," he said.
It's easy to see why DC is feeling the heat from Marvel. In the last two summers, the three releases from the Disney-owned studio (Civil War, Avengers: Age of Ultron and Ant-Man) tallied more than $3 billion at the global box office, for an average of more than $1 billion per film. Batman v. Superman, meanwhile, came in with a comparatively lower $873 million worldwide earlier this year.
Still, last weekend belonged to DC. Suicide Squad shattered the August record; previously, the highest U.S. opening was another superhero ensemble, Guardians of the Galaxy, which debuted to $94 million two years ago.
Suicide Squad was seen primarily by millennials. According to Warner Bros., 76 percent of its audience was under age 35. The movie was watched by more men (54 percent) than women (46 percent) though notably, it was preferred by women -- the film notched an A-minus score among women, compared with a B-plus from men.
Elsewhere at the box office, Jason Bourne tumbled, falling 62 percent to tally about $22.4 million in its second weekend of release. It has now grossed $103.1 million -- off the second-weekend pace of 2007's The Bourne Ultimatum, which had tallied $131.6 million by the same point -- with an additional $91.9 million overseas.
The R-rated comedy Bad Moms held up sturdily at $14 million, falling just 40 percent in its second weekend to bring its cumulative total to about $51 million.
The animated smash The Secret Life of Pets continued its stellar run in its fifth weekend with $11.5 million in the United States; it has now grossed $319.5 million at home and crossed the $500 million mark worldwide.
Star Trek Beyond continued to lag well behind its predecessors' pace, grossing about $10 million in its third weekend of release and reaching about $128 million at home. Each of the previous two modern Star Trek films surpassed $225 million, a mark Beyond will almost certainly not hit.
And the Kevin Spacey talking-cat comedy Nine Lives eked out some pained mews: The Barry Sonnenfeld film managed just about $6.3 million in its opening weekend.
The battle will shape up for Suicide Squad in the weeks ahead, as the studio looks to build off its strong opening and set the stage for several coming DC movies, including the 2017 releases Wonder Woman and Justice League.
Goldstein said there was less concern about a drop-off for Suicide Squad than in the past, citing an Easter weekend opening that front-loaded Batman v Superman.
"We have a very different set of circumstances this time around," he said.
Despite the August dates, the next two weeks are busy and won't provide Suicide Squad with a clear runway.
This week will see the Seth Rogen raunch-cartoon Sausage Party and, to a lesser extent, Disney's remake of Pete's Dragon and Meryl Streep's opera-fest Florence Foster Jenkins, compete with the WB actioner.
The following week will bring several high-profile male-oriented pictures, including Timur Bekmambetov's re-imagining of Ben-Hur and Todd Phillips' arms-trade black comedy War Dogs.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
The top 20 movies at U.S. and Canadian theaters Friday through Sunday, followed by distribution studio, gross, number of theater locations, average receipts per location, total gross and number of weeks in release, as compiled Monday by comScore:
Suicide Squad, Warner Bros., $133,682,248, 4,255 locations, $31,418 average, $133,682,248, 1 week.
Jason Bourne, Universal, $22,405,125, 4,039 locations, $5,547 average, $103,111,145, 2 weeks.
Bad Moms, STX Entertainment, $14,004,006, 3,215 locations, $4,356 average, $50,850,836, 2 weeks.
The Secret Life of Pets, Universal, $11,500,590, 3,417 locations, $3,366 average, $319,519,370, 5 weeks.
Star Trek Beyond, Paramount, $10,036,030, 3,263 locations, $3,076 average, $127,737,394, 3 weeks.
Nine Lives, EuropaCorp, $6,249,915, 2,264 locations, $2,761 average, $6,249,915, 1 week.
Lights Out, Warner Bros., $6,006,454, 2,581 locations, $2,327 average, $54,715,706, 3 weeks.
Nerve, Lionsgate, $4,861,528, 2,538 locations, $1,915 average, $26,850,322, 2 weeks.
Ghostbusters, Columbia, $4,676,192, 2,545 locations, $1,837 average, $116,588,128, 4 weeks.
Ice Age: Collision Course, 20th Century Fox, $4,325,094, 2,738 locations, $1,580 average, $53,564,891, 3 weeks.
Finding Dory, Disney, $1,957,734, 1,122 locations, $1,745 average, $473,872,375, 8 weeks.
Cafe Society, Lionsgate, $1,605,786, 631 locations, $2,545 average, $6,695,597, 4 weeks.
Hillary's America: The Secret History of the Democratic Party, Quality Flix, $930,025, 672 locations, $1,384 average, $11,120,971, 4 weeks.
The Legend of Tarzan, Warner Bros., $801,735, 648 locations, $1,237 average, $124,051,759, 6 weeks.
Captain Fantastic, Bleecker Street, $584,171, 363 locations, $1,609 average, $3,581,232, 5 weeks.
Indignation, Roadside Attractions, $420,266, 55 locations, $7,641 average, $560,512, 2 weeks.
Don't Think Twice, The Film Arcade, $373,556, 57 locations, $6,554 average, $679,404, 3 weeks.
Central Intelligence, Warner Bros., $371,126, 266 locations, $1,395 average, $126,088,877, 8 weeks.
Hunt for the Wilderpeople, The Orchard, $335,494, 176 locations, $1,906 average, $3,469,227, 7 weeks.
Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie, Fox Searchlight, $333,253, 226 locations, $1,475 average, $4,152,331, 3 weeks.
MovieStyle on 08/12/2016