Box Office Gold: ‘Suicide Squad’ Could Repeat
In the race to win box office gold, Suicide Squad has a realistic shot of taking first place despite the fact the movie has been panned by critics. To say that Warner Bros. picked the best time to release Suicide Squad would be an understatement. This week sees three wide releases, Pete’s Dragon, Sausage Party, and Florence Foster Jenkins.
While all three movies are performing well for critics, most early estimates have Suicide Squad holding on to the top spot despite the fact it could lose more than 65 percent in revenue in its second week. According to Variety, it is expected to fall somewhere in the range of $45 million to $48 million dollars.
Disney’s Pete’s Dragon seems to have the best shot at the gold. A remake of a 1977 story about a boy and his dragon currently has a critic’s score of 84 percent. However, Disney is only expecting the film to gross about $25 million. A steady dose of advertisement during Olympic coverage could get it the push it needs. It stars Bryce Dallas Howard and Robert Redford.
Howard should help Pete’s Dragon do well. Last year, she scored a huge hit with Jurassic World. Robert Redford still carries a lot of weight in Hollywood himself. This is his second film by a Disney company in the last few years. In his other role, he uncharacteristically played the villain in Captain America: The Winter Soldier.
Never count out a movie with the cute kid factor either. Oakes Fegley plays Pete, the boy who has been living in the wild along with his trusty green dragon. The film is picking up steam. The Chicago Tribune’s Michael Phillips calls it one of the year’s most surprising films.
“How did this happen? How did a remake of the 1977 Disney animation/live-action hybrid ‘Pete’s Dragon,’ a pushy mediocrity from tip to tail, become the most soulful film of the summer, and one of the best of the year?”
Sausage Party would be the antithesis to Pete’s Dragon this week. The R-Rated animated film very nearly received an NC-17 rating. While critics and fans alike have praised Sausage Party, very few adult animated comedies win at the box office. However, in a year where an R-Rated superhero film (Deadpool) can destroy the competition on Valentine’s Day, anything could happen.
Sausage Party tells the story of Frank the sausage (Seth Rogen) and his other anthropomorphic food pals itching to go home with would-be customers. However, once they find out what said customers have in store for them, their attitude quickly changes. Mayhem ensues. Cinema Blend had nothing but praise for the film.
“Gloriously unfiltered X-Rated filth, Sausage Party is outrageous, lurid, crude absurdity, but consistently hilarious, even borderline genius, and the most fun you’ll have in a cinema this year.”
The dark horse candidate this week is Florence Foster Jenkins. The film’s title character played by Meryl Streep is a wealthy New York socialite who sets out to become an opera singer despite the fact that she has a terrible voice. It is based on a true story and co-stars Hugh Grant.
Critics have raved about the performances of Streep and Grant. It currently has a critic rating on Rotten Tomatoes of 91 percent. However, it seems the most impact this film can have this weekend would be taking viewers away from the other two films that are looking to knock off Suicide Squad.
Another deciding factor this weekend will be the Olympics. With the ability to watch key events live, viewers may elect to stay away from cinema in favor of their big screens at home.
Who do you think wins box office gold, Suicide Squad the reigning champion, or does it get knocked off by one of the three others?
[Image via Shutterstock]
