It's hard to believe that we're already into August, aka the last month of summer blockbuster season. While we've already seen plenty of huge Hollywood movies, to varying levels of success, the last big hurrah of the summer comes this week with David Ayer's Suicide Squad. Set in the infant DC Extended Universe, Suicide Squad changes the focus to the villains, introducing a ton of new characters and attempting to add some levity to an otherwise somber set of DC films. Comic book fans and moviegoers alike have been eagerly anticipating the release of Suicide Squad, so much so that the film is breaking records before even being officially released.
Fandango has just released information regarding Suicide Squad's pre-sale tickets. Apparently the film is so anticipated that it has broken the record for August pre-sales for the company, which is saying a lot since they've been in business for a whopping 16 years. There have been some seriously successful movies out in August in recent years, including Guardians of the Galaxy and Straight Outta Compton, both of which were eclipsed by the massive sales from Suicide Squad.
So what does this mean for Suicide Squad and the DC Extended Universe? Namely, it means that Suicide Squad is probably going to make a shit ton of money for Warner Bros.. Projections for the film's financial success have been estimated at up to an outstanding $140 million for its opening weekend, which is pretty bananas. So much of Hollywood and movie production is about making money, so if Suicide Squad succeeds in making tons of dough, we can expect more DCEU flicks to be greenlit in the near future. Although Batman v Superman made good money, it declined sharply after the first weekend and divided moviegoers, possibly putting the universe as a whole in jeopardy.
Of course, the projected financial success for Suicide Squad is also dependent on audience reaction and word of mouth. While we've all been excited to see the rogues kick some ass and give some sass, early reviews for the movie aren't very favorable. Critics have been praising the performances and character development, but ultimately finding the plot and arc of the story to be disjointed and disappointing.
Since Man of Steel and Batman v Superman also suffered pretty mixed reviews, it should be interesting to see how Warner Bros. and DC react to Suicide Squad's reception. All of the actors and production crew have been praising the film non-stop, so perhaps the studio will stick by David Ayer's vision. Especially if he makes them tons of cash.
We'll just have to see where the cards fall when Suicide Squad finally hits theaters this weekend. Personally, I think the DCEU should be given a few years to catch up to Marvel, and perhaps we'll continue to see an improvement from film to film.
