Box Office: 'The Suicide Squad' disappoints with $26.5 million debut

Those ticket sales were easily enough to lead domestic box office charts despite falling short of expectations heading into the weekend. There were several factors contributing to its less-than-stellar start, including but not limited to growing concern over the Delta variant of COVID-19, the Warner Bros. film's hybrid release on HBO Max at no extra charge to subscribers, and its R-rating.

An opening weekend below $30 million isn't surprising, given the ongoing pandemic, but it's disappointing because "The Suicide Squad" cost $185 million to produce and many millions more to promote globally.

At the international box office, "The Suicide Squad" added another $35 million from 70 overseas territories, bringing its global tally to $72.2 million.

"The Suicide Squad" serves as a do-over, of sorts, to the 2016 Warner Bros. movie about a group of expendable super-villains on a deadly mission. It brings back Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn, Joel Kinnaman as Col. Rick Flag and Viola Davis as Amanda Waller, but original stars Will Smith and Jared Leto didn't return for the fresh spin on the DC Comics adaptation.

Though Robbie and Davis are A-listers, "The Suicide Squad" likely suffered from lack of star power. Despite the vastly different reception (the article-less "Suicide Squad," directed by David Ayer, has a 26% on Rotten Tomatoes), the latest take won't come close to reaching the ticket sales of the original, which kicked off with $133 million and ended its run with $746 million globally.

Of course, that film didn't open during a deadly pandemic and wasn't offered simultaneously on HBO Max.

SOURCE: REUTERS