Super-villains of ‘Suicide Squad’ may defeat ‘Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice,’ aiming for US$125 million debut

Warner Bros. “Suicide Squad” is looking for a record-smashing August debut. A pre-release tracking has revealed that the film from the DC Comics cinematic universe should bring anywhere between $100 million (AU$131 million) to $125 million (AU$164 million) when it hits big screens on Aug. 5.

Fans are giving the DC Comics movie universe another chance especially after “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” received a lukewarm response from them and critics also gave the movie a cold shoulder. Pitting the “Man of Steel” against Batman did not create the fireworks everybody expected.

With a budget of US$250 million (AU$328 million), “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” collected US$872.7 million (AU$1146.26 million) globally. However, millions of extra dollars were spent on advertising and promotions and analysts were disappointed that the movie could not reach the US$1 billion (AU$1.31 billion).

“Suicide Squad,” which is a spin-off centred on a team of super-villains, may also easily overtake the US$94.3 million (AU$124 million) launch of “Guardians of the Galaxy.” It may very well become the biggest August debut ever.

It may be pretty early to guess figures as a lot depends on whether reviewers and critics like the film or not. However, demographically the movie looks like “Deadpool,” which opened to US$132.4 million (AU$174 million).

“Suicide Squad” would also mark a three-day opening record for Will Smith, Deadline reports. ComScore’s PreAct, which monitors social media buzz, has revealed that “Suicide Squad” is generating amazing buzz for a few weeks now, even outstripping “Star Trek Beyond” and “Ghostbusters.”

The super-villain-centric movie had its share of struggles. According to Variety, the film went through extensive re-shoots to fix tonal issues and fill out back-stories of several characters.

“Suicide Squad” features a number of Batman adversaries such as The Joker (Jared Leto), Will Smith (Deadshot) and Harley Quinn (Margot Robbie) among others. The super-villains would be recruited by a Government agency to carry out a black ops mission. Batman, played by Ben Affleck, will also be making an appearance.