David Ayer's Suicide Squad has seemingly become the superhero movie equivalent of The Little Engine That Could. The Task Force X team-up movie didn't make a very strong impression with critics when it hit theaters on August 5, but hardcore DC fans have quite obviously taken a shine to the film. Backed by intense fan enthusiasm, the film has gone on to become an unexpected box office smash in the face of innumerable negative reviews. In fact, Suicide Squad has become so successful, that it even just achieved the honor of dethroning one of Marvel's best movies of all time.
The results are in on Box Office Mojo (via CBM), and it seems that Suicide Squad has just crossed another major milestone, while beating Marvel in the process. Garnering $318,584,857 at the domestic box office, and roughly $731 million worldwide, Suicide Squad has officially edged out the original Iron Man to become the 50th highest grossing domestic movie of all time. By breaking into the top 50, Suicide Squad joins the ranks of Marvel and DC movies like Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice, The Dark Knight, Guardians of the Galaxy, and Iron Man 3. Not bad for a movie populated by mostly unknown characters.
At this point it remains unclear how much further Suicide Squad can push the envelope. Roughly one month ago we reported that the film was generally expected to make a worldwide gross in the range of $700-730 million during its theatrical run, and it how now cleared that expectation. Suicide Squad won't be in theaters for much longer, but it's obvious that it has performed far better than anyone ever anticipated.
This report comes only one week after Suicide Squad beat another major Marvel movie at the box office as well. Despite the fact that Captain America: The Winter Soldier is generally considered one of the best entries in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to date, Suicide Squad officially passed its worldwide gross of $714 million earlier this month. Marvel arguably still has the upper hand, but DC's getting some great shots in along the way.
As fans of comic book movies, it's really good to see a movie like Suicide Squad thriving at the domestic and international box offices. However, it also raises some interesting questions. To date, none of the three DCEU films have resonated with critics, and Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice very clearly fell short of its financial expectations by garnering roughly $872 million at the worldwide box office. Even with Suicide Squad's strong financial performance this summer, the DCEU still remains on shaky ground, and we will have to wait and see whether or not the stylistic choices made by directors like Zack Snyder and David Ayer are sustainable for the future.
CinemaBlend will keep you updated with more information concerning the financial performance of David Ayer's Suicide Squad as more details become available. The Task Force X solo movie is still in theaters, so make sure to check it out while you still can. The DCEU will continent to expand when Wonder Woman hits theaters next summer on June 2, 2017.
