Well, it was what pundits essentially expected from Warner Bros.’ “Suicide Squad” and its second-week box-office performance. The film was dressed down by critics as badly as “Batman v Superman” (they have equal Rotten Tomatoes scores) and the DCU picture took a similar nosedive in its follow-up week, falling 67.3% in week two. It’s a similar crash to that of ‘Dawn Of Justice,’ which tumbled nearly 70% in its second week of release. “Suicide Squad” was, of course, at #1 this weekend with $43.8 million, and it currently stands at $222.9 million domestically, but that 67% drop could likely be as injurious to the picture as it was to “Batman v Superman.”
Worldwide, the superhero movie is zeroing in on $500 million and currently stands at $465.3 million. That sounds pretty great, but given the previous figures, it’s possible “Suicide Squad” may not hit $300 domestically, and without China, it could tap out around $600-ish million globally if it follows the same trajectory of its DCU predecessor. Worse, “Suicide Squad” needs to hit $750-$800 million just to break even given its production costs, marketing expenses and its split with theater chains; you can pretty much guarantee that’s not happening at this point.
Territories like Japan and Germany could still goose the picture internationally somewhat, but the absence of China will hurt overall and rob the picture of another $80-$100 million internationally. For comparison, though it’s not quite oranges to apples given the brands, “Suicide Squad” is also tracking behind the astounding $682.9 million globally (via Box Office Mojo) that ‘BVS’ had amassed in week two. But given the Zack Snyder film’s final worldwide total grossed only 21.7% more than that figure, it’s pretty clear that ‘BVS’ burned extremely bright at first and flickered out fast after its first two weeks. “Suicide Squad” could have the same story given its week two plummet. 
In new releases, Sony’s “Sausage Party” cooked up an impressive $33.6 million and Disney’s “Pete’s Dragon” flew to a promising $21.5 million. On 1,528 screens one would think “Florence Foster Jenkins” would give the plus-45 age group something to flock too, but the picture made $6.5 million total for a low $4,306 per-screen average. In limited release, “Anthropoid” was dead in the water: $1.2 million from 452 screens for a dismal $2.684 average. The noir western “Hell Or High Water” fared better: $592k on 32 screens for a $18,500 PSA.
Holdover releases weren’t very impressive. “Jason Bourne” added another $13.6 million to its overall tally, but its $126.7 million domestic total so far (low) will likely leave the picture as the 4th highest-grossing film of the series in North America — not an impressive figure. The movie will end up as the 3rd highest-grossing film of the franchise worldwide and that’s probably the last we’ll see of ‘Bourne.’ “Star Trek Beyond” isn’t faring much better. It’s currently pacing at $139 million domestically and a mere $217 million worldwide, less than even the poorly performing ‘Bourne’ film. China is still to come, however, so that’ll at least help ‘Beyond.’ The hit of the summer is likely going to be the counter-programming comedy “Bad Moms.” The low-costing flick with no real stars to speak of has tallied up $71.4 million in three weeks (!) and will likely make a ton of profit (don’t be surprised if they make a sequel).
READ MORE: Filthy & Funny ‘Bad Moms’ Features A Standout Performance From Kathryn Hahn [Review]
Of all the summer blockbusters, though, “Ghostbusters” took it in the teeth the hardest. International audiences didn’t care, the lack of China audiences didn’t help, and in week five it’s fallen out of the top 10. The picture currently sits at a dim $184.5 million worldwide and will likely limp to just over $200 million globally — a sad number for a summer tentpole.
The box-office story of the year overall will likely center around animated pictures. The original Universal property “The Secret Life Of Pets” is a few days away from $600 million worldwide. And don’t forget another original film, not based on any I.P.: “Zootopia,” which hit $$1,023 billion earlier this year (the second highest-grossing picture of the year, and likely to remain so for the duration of the calendar). Then of course there’s Pixar‘s “Finding Dory” which has now crossed $900 million worldwide. Hitting that benchmark makes the animated film the 4th highest grossing movie of the year globally, above “Batman V Superman.” But overall, it’s been an extremely difficult year for movies at the North American box office, and this week’s unremarkable numbers only underscore that point further.
1. Suicide Squad — 43,770,000 ($222,874,728 )
2. Sausage Party — $33,600,000
3. Pete’s Dragon —$21,501,000
4. Jason Bourne — $13,620,000 ($126,782,34)
5. Bad Moms — $11,450,000 ($71,461,293)
6. The Secret Life of Pets — $8,840,000 ($335,942,075)
7. Star Trek Beyond — $6,800,000 ($139,679,949)
8. Florence Foster Jenkins — $6,580,000
9. Nine Lives — $3,500,000 ($13,550,825)
10. Lights Out — $3,220,000 ($61,134,818)