Jeremy Renner and The Bourne Legacy was long forgotten this time, as audiences returned to the Bourne series this past weekend, driving Jason Bourne to the 2nd best opening of the series with $59M. Although it's not quite the $70M the last Damon/Greengrass Bourne did in 2007, it's way better than was expected. The bigger surprise was R-rated Moms-Gone-Wild comedy, Bad Moms, posting an excellent $23M weekend to go along with its great reviews. That makes it STX's biggest opening in company history, and even though the comedy was front loaded (dipping from Friday to Saturday), it will easily surpass last summer's The Gift as the highest grossing film in the company's short-lived history. With only Sausage Party in two weeks, and War Dogs the week after, to directly contend with it, it's not out of the realm of possibility for it to see $70M by the end of its run. Lionsgate's teen-and-young-20-something targeted thriller, Nerve, connected with its Pokemon Go audience, hitting $15M in its 5-day opening; it's got pretty good WOM so Lionsgate is hoping it will bubble under the big names throughout August. With its budget rumored to only be $20M, it's a guaranteed profit for its young filmmakers and will help both Dave Franco and Emma Roberts continue their climb to sustainable stars in their own right.
The two PTA newcomers, Indignation and Equity, both did better than expected, handily beating Bourne's average to claim the top two PTA spots, respectively. Even IFC's The Land managed two points (two more than I predicted), due to its targeted releases and soft competition. With Suicide Squad the only new release that'll place in the PTA arena this coming weekend, everyone else will most likely slide down a spot.
This week's wide releases...
Suicide Squad (WB) - Hoping to make audiences long forget the drap, depressing, shot-exclusively-in-shadows Batman Vs Superman: Dawn of Justice, WB has opted for insane colors and maniacal laughs with their second at-bat of this year, Suicide Squad. WB will be pushing the bowl of murderous Lucky Charms into over 4,200 2D, 3D, and IMAX 3D theaters this weekend. The first non-Superman or non-Batman film in DC's Extended Universe, the titular Suicide Squad is a grouping of villains, all locked away in Arkham Asylum. Faced with a threat that regular Armed Forces are unprepared for, Government Agent Director Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) decides to put together a group of those criminals to do what other can't. They only have two rules: Try to escape while on mission and the bomb she's implanted in their necks will explode, and if they complete their mission, their prison sentences are erased. The #skwad consists of two of DC's most famous villians in The Joker (Jared Leto) and his mistress, Harley Quinn (Margot Robie), while Deadshot (Will Smith) takes over as the Squad Leader. Also along for their mission from Hell: the half-man half-crocodile, Killer Croc; mutant firestarter Diablo (Jay Hernandez); Aussie Boomerang (Jai Courtney); possessed witch Enchantress (Cara Delevinge); swords-woman with a blade that collects souls, Katana (Karen Fukuhara); and knot expert, Slipknot (Adam Beach). Whew. They're all under the watchful eye of Waller's #2 man, Rick Flagg (Joel Kinnaman). There's been a ton of hype for this movie, especially as most are expecting a Deadpool-like version of DC's Dirty Dozen remake.
DC, years late to the connected universe party, has underwhelmed in both of their previous outings: 2013's Man of Steel ($116M/$291M) and March's Batman Vs Superman: Dawn of Justice ($166M/$330M) were critically panned thoroughly and didn't come near the numbers of Marvel's continued output. A lot has been made of its star-studded cast, especially Margot Robbie's turn as Harley Quinn, a comic book favorite that's never been portrayed on screen before. It was rumored for months that DC had decided to go the Deadpool route of making this an R-rated outing, but even though reshoots were done quickly after Deadpool became the highest grossing R-rated film ever, DC decided to keep their PG-13 rating. Suicide Squad was long thought to be the savior of this summer, erasing the memories of lame sequels and boring retreads with a darkly hilarious bonafide hit - it'd also legitimize DC as a worthy contender to Marvel's crown. That was until Tuesday happened...
On Tuesday, press and free screening audiences got to finally lay eyes on the finished product, ridiculous Joker tattoos and all. And...it wasn't pretty. Tales of yet another lackluster comic book movie with no substance and all style flooded Twitter quickly, as almost everyone's performances have been panned, ranging from dreadful (Leto's Joker) to boring (Smith's Deadshot). Margot Robbie has seemed to be the only one to escape the scorn, earning unilateral praises as an unhinged Harley Quinn. It's prerelease RT currently sits at a pitiful 31%, which is actually LOWER than Batman Vs Superman's (and we know how that turned out). While Suicide Squad should still open to triple digits (purely on its comic book origins and WB's heavy marketing presence), hopes that this would turn the tide on audience opinion of DC movies are long dashed by now.
Deadpool was a surprise unto many audiences, it's unhinged maniac opening to $132M in February. WB hasn't done much to separate their tactics from FOX's here, and even with awful reviews, it should be front loaded enough to come close to that number. Suicide Squad will open to $118M this weekend, notching 15 Top 5 points, 8 PTA points, before closing out with $245M, a shitty multiplier close to that of BvS. It's of course the most expensive title in the August-October BO Leagues, and even if Suicide Squad disappoints, there's nothing else that'll come close to it this season. Even if you don't watch this apparent train wreck, you will need to slate it if you hope to win.
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Nine Lives (EuropaCorp) - Coming in from complete left field this weekend, EuropaCorp (a studio that hasn't released a film in nearly a year) decided to counter program what's expected to be one of the biggest films of the summer....with a talking cat movie...starring Kevin Spacey? Yes, that's exactly what Nine Lives is, laser point chasing its way into over 2,200 theaters. Starring Kevin Spacey as the movie cliche overworked, mean businessman and inattentive parent Tom Brand, he finds himself late to his own daughter's birthday party and stops by a back alley pet shop to pick her a cat as a present. Taking cues from Big and/or Liar Liar, his daughter makes a magical wish and soon Tom finds his mind transported into the cat's body. Yeah. I firmly believe Spacey only did this movie so that he can yell "WAIT A MINUTE, I'M A CAT" in a voiceover booth somewhere in Burbank for millions of dollars. He must learn how to love or whatever before he can return back to his spongy, middle aged body. Other stars that were likely primed to participate: Jennifer Garner as Tom's Wife, Christopher Walken as the creepy petshop owner, and Arrow's Robbie Amell as his adult son.
Nine Lives is supposedly a children's movie, but it stars Se7en villain Kevin Spacey and looks like it was filmed in 1996 and shelved until now. Luckily, for EuropaCorp, kid's have opted to skip the latest Ice Age installment completely and have little else to watch in theaters, unless they're going to Secret Life of Pets for the tenth time. While awful-looking talking animal movies have been successful in the past, they've usually had another hook to add to just animals doing stupid shit: Zookeeper ($20M/$80M) had the animals banding together to help their friend find love, Cats & Dogs ($21M/$93M) had the titular pets pitted against each other as secret agents, and Beverly Hills Chihuahua ($29M/$94M) had....well, nobody can explain that one. Nine Lives has absolutely nothing other than Kevin Spacey-as-a-cat as a reason to head to theaters. While it should become great late night fodder for college students, it won't set any box office on fire.
Nine Lives will open to $7M, grabbing zero Top 5 OR PTA points, and exiting theaters quickly with only $15M in its paws. It's priced correctly at only $5 in the August-October BO Leagues, but it's still not worth that - if you have $5, you can opt for Don't Breathe, The Light Between Oceans, or Masterminds. Do that.
The Weekend of August 5th-7th:
1. Suicide Squad - $124M
2. Jason Bourne - $27M
3. Star Trek Beyond - $12M
4. The Secret Life of Pets - $11M
5. Bad Moms - $10M
PTA: Suicide Squad, Indignation, Equity, Jason Bourne, Star Trek Beyond
Next week, we'll have probably the strangest trio of new wide releases: Florence Foster Jenkins, a period Meryl Streep comedy, Pete's Dragon, a Disney live action remake of a cult animated 80s flick, and Sausage Party, a Seth Rogen R-rated comedy that just happens to be completely animated. Whew. In limited release, we'll see Hell or High Water and Anthropoid.
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