Craft Arts

Alas, The Suicide Squad found no salvation in weekend, two, dropping a massive 70.5% from an already disappointing $26.1 million opening weekend. That’s the biggest drop ever for a “big” comic book superhero movie, below only the 78% drop for Shaquille O’Neal’s Steel (a $17 million WB flick that opened with just $870,068 in 1,260 theaters 23 years ago today) among all relevant comic book superhero flicks. Moreover, that Free Guy, an original, star-driven studio programmer (starring a leading man, Ryan Reynolds, whose bankability is at-best inconsistent outside of the Deadpool movies) opened with $28 million this weekend, shows that it wasn’t just about Covid. Say what you will about HBO Max, but Mortal Kombat-level viewership (and The Suicide Squad logged 20% fewer households on opening weekend) arguably only works when your movie cost $55