Here’s something twisted that will absolutely blow your goddamn mind: Suicide Squad, a very bad movie, set an August box office record on its opening weekend, raking in a hot $135.1 million in North American ticket sales, which is more than Guardians of the Galaxy, an actually good movie, brought in on its opening weekend in 2014.
First of all, I apologize. I saw the movie last night, so I’m a part of the problem. I have to assume millions of other people like me were so committed to hate-watching, they also spent $15 to go see what turned out to be deeply mediocre film. Seriously, Jared Leto should get his Oscar revoked.
On the bright side, the Associated Press reports that although there were large audiences Thursday and Friday night, ticket sales sharply declined on Saturday.
Even though Suicide Squad broke North American box office records for August, it will likely not get released in China, the world’s second largest movie market, due its completely twisted, messed up themes.
‘Suicide Squad’ Now Targets Record-Breaking $140 Million Opening
Warner Bros. comic book movie now aims to beat “Finding Dory” for No. 3 debut of the year
“Suicide Squad” keeps building momentum going into its debut this Friday, with tracking figures now setting its opening between $130 million and $140 million — though studio estimates are currently set on a much more conservative $125 million.
Just over a week ago, experts set its opening at roughly $115 million, which would easily break the all-time opening record for August. But then, just a few days later, prognosticators moved up their estimates to $125 million.
Now reaching for an even bigger figure, David Ayer‘s DC Comics movie is looking to beat Disney Pixar’s “Finding Dory,” which opened in June to $135 million and become the third-highest grossing opening of 2016.
But remember, reviews come out tomorrow and that could affect estimates.
If “Suicide Squad” doesn’t reach “Dory” heights, it would need to surpass Fox’s $132.4 million debut for “Deadpool” to secure its position as the fourth-highest grossing movie of the year.
Whether reviews are good or bad, the Warner Bros. movie, starring Will Smith, Margot Robbie and Jared Leto, should have an easy time surpassing the August record set by Disney-Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy,” which opened at $94.3 million in 2014.
Despite the sterling projections, “Suicide Squad” should still open below Disney-Marvel’s “Captain America: Civil War” — which bowed to nearly $180 million in early May — and also Warner Bros. previous DC Comics movie “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice,” which opened with $166 million in domestic grosses in March.
Still, anywhere above $130 million is a huge number, particularly for a new franchise launch, and comes during a summer that’s in desperate need of bigger box office receipts.
With only a month to go until the end of the summer season, total domestic grosses are only at $3.1 billion, pacing well behind last summer’s record box office — whose final tally of $4.5 billion seems unlikely to be topped.
Another indicator of the impending success of “Suicide Squad”: The title has inspired a total of more than 2.1 million conversations on social media, according to comScore’s latest PreAct results. That puts it at No. 1, ahead of Lucasfilm’s “Rogue One,” which has a total of 965,411 conversations when counted this week.
The film revolves around DC supervillains, who are on death row for their crimes until a secret government agency called Task Force X led by Amanda Waller (Viola Davis) assigns them black ops missions in exchange for clemency.
The name Joel Kinnaman is likely to draw a blank from the average moviegoer.
He’s more “that tall, lanky guy from ‘The Killing,’” or the fellow who had the misfortune of playing “Robocop” in the ill-conceived 2014 reboot. However, his days of relative anonymity may be over. Kinnaman helps anchor “Suicide Squad” as Rick Flag, the field leader of the team of super villains and criminals. He’s a brusque military man, tasked with running herd over the baddest of the bad. The film co-stars Margot Robbie as Harley Quinn, Will Smith as Deadshot, and Jared Leto as the Joker. It’s expected to dominate the box office this weekend, opening to as much as $125 million.
Kinnaman spoke with Variety about his intense training regimen, “Suicide Squad” sequels, and the disgusting gifts he received from Leto.
Tom Hardy originally had your role, but he had to drop out to finish “The Revenant.” How did you get the part?
I was following this project very jealously from the sidelines. All these new cast members were being added, and nobody was calling me. Then I heard about Tommy dropping out. My reps called me and said they’d set up a meeting for me with [director] David Ayer. We sat down in a bar in Toronto and we hit it off. We understood where we were coming from.
In the audition, we just hit it off. The room was gelling. He proved he was an actor’s director. I come from the theater initially, so I respond very well to getting stuff thrown at you. It helps me show what I can do.
How did you prepare?
The first thing David told me was “get big.” So I did that. I gained 35 pounds in three months. Trained a lot. Ate a lot. I did gain a little too much on the belly, so I had to lose that.
I became close with our military advisers on the film. Two of them were former Navy SEALS who went on to become CIA operators. These guys were real life Rick Flags. We went through intense training. We’d go out in the woods and backpack with 50 pounds. They wanted to drain me physically and deprive me of sleep. For 60 hours we’d be doing these workouts. They’d show me videos of cartel beheadings and torture. The most awful things I’ve ever seen. The whole thing culminated with this six-hour exercise where they’d take over this abandoned meat locker — like this underground maze. They enlisted 15 to 20 Canadian military guys. We did these scenarios. Like hostage situations. We’d use blanks, but it was still crazy.
They showed me how you shoot or enter rooms. The most important part was the attitude. This guy isn’t just a top tier operator. He is a commander.
Did Jared Leto stay in character as the Joker throughout the shoot?
Yeah, he sure did. It was amazing to watch him work. I knew Jared before. I knew him personally. But I didn’t see that guy throughout the whole shoot. I met Mr. J. a couple of times. He was magnetic. He pulled off an amazing performance. The commitment and the concentration that he had was inspiring to watch.
He sent me some presents. He sent me a couple of used condoms. A couple of dildos. Some anal beads. Someone asked me, “Did you send him any presents back?” I’m like, “when someone sends you a used condom, I don’t want to play anymore. I don’t like your game, and I don’t want to play.”
Did the cast bond?
It was pretty much a love fest. When you look at what Jared did, sort of setting himself apart, it’s undeniable that concentration gets results. You look at what Daniel Day-Lewis does and it’s the same thing. The detail of his work and the amount of time he spent practicing with the character. It’s just awesome.
What I think you lose with working in that way is the creativity of the ensemble. You have all these artists, these great artists together, and when you are social and when you are playing around, there’s a sense of humor that you can build together. You understand each other’s idiosyncrasies. Even if there’s a contentious relationship between your characters, there’s a humor that you can put into things. You can build comedy into those relationships. That’s what we were after with the squad.
I heard you all got tattoos together?
Yes. That was a great life decision.
Are you signed for more “Suicide Squad” sequels? Will Rick Flag appear in other DC Comics movies?
We’ll see. Maybe we’ll make more “Suicide Squad” movies. Who knows? The audience will decide.
If there’s like military involved in one of the other films than maybe they’ll call me. You can definitely see how Amanda Waller [the government agent played by Viola Davis] has a place in the other films. Maybe I’ll tag along with her.
No. We did 95% action. It was just added action. That was a constructed narrative. It surprised me that it gets traction with people who should understand the film business better. Any film with a $125 or $135 million budget always has a block of re-shoots. Some do a week and some do a full month. It’s built into it. When you do a regular film the editor and the director will put together the movie and think, “Oh man, if we just had a little beat. It would elevate that.” But they have to work around it and work with what they have. On these big films they always have the luxury of going back and getting that beat and elevating it even more.
We’re all scheduled for a re-shoot period before we start the film. They put so much money into the shooting of these films and the marketing that to them it’s always worth getting it right.
Have you seen your “Suicide Squad” action figure yet?
I’m pretty much a veteran in the action figure game. I got my “RoboCop.” I got my “Suicide Squad.” It’s what I do.
You seem to do a lot of different types of projects. Indie films, television, big budget adventures. Do you fear typecasting?
That’s the main challenge. I try to do as many roles as I can. My favorite actors play very different kinds of parts. If I were ever to be so lucky to have an audience that was anticipating a film that I was going to do, I would love for them to have a feeling when my film was coming out to be thinking, “I wonder what he’s going to do with this role.”
Several fans are now excited for the upcoming release of the “High School Musical 4” movie. Million followers of the musical-drama series are excited for the rumored reunion of Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens, but it seems like it is impossible to happen now.
Rumor mill is spreading that Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens will not be reuniting in the upcoming “High School Musical 4” movie. Sources are saying that Disney does not have enough funds to pay the former lead stars to appear in the imminent installment.
Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens’ reunion in “High School Musical 4” will surely be a huge hit. However, the said plan will not be pushed through if the price is not right.
Other than the financial problems, the “High School Musical 4” production will also face a delay due to casting troubles. Insiders say that no new personalities have been casted for the upcoming film despite the screenings that were held since the start of 2016.
Reports have it that no one can beat the chemistry of Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens. As a matter of fact, fans are still hopeful to see the stars lead the upcoming “High School Musical 4” movie even if they are not a couple already.
Though these “High School Musical 4” reports could be true, neither Zac Efron nor Vanessa Hudgens has confirmed anything as of yet. Hence, everything should be taken with a grain of salt until proven true.
Meanwhile, GamenGuide has previously reported that Zac Efron is now trying to win back “High School Musical 4” actress Vanessa Hudgens after breaking up with Sami Miro. Insiders say that the “Baywatch” actor has been giving the “Spring Break” star silly calls lately.
Both Zac Efron and Vanessa Hudgens are yet to comment on these reports. “High School Musical 4” is expected to premiere in 2018. Stay tuned for more spoilers, news & update!
Thousands of fans are now patiently waiting for the upcoming release of the “Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2” game. Now, recent reports are claiming that several characters are set to be added on the gameplay.
Black Goku strongest villain to beat in ‘Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2’
The Bitbag reports that Black Goku is definitely be joining the character list of the “Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2” game. The news outlet reveals that the super villain “Dragon Ball Super” TV series will be among the pre-order characters.
Sources are speculating that the transformation of Black Goku will also be featured in the “Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2” game. As a matter of fact, Bandai Namco has hinted the new look of the “Dragon Ball Super” villain on a candy distributed in Japan.
However, avid followers of the “Dragon Ball Super” TV series should note that Black Goku is not a Saiyan. Most fans consider him as a supernatural created by Beerus when he brought Universe 6 back to life, which makes his transformation in “Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2” more interesting.
More interesting game features in the ‘Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2’
Meanwhile, GamenGuide has previously reported that “Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2” will be adding more interesting elements on its gameplay. Among the explosive additions is the much-improved and a much-larger hub city where a total of 300 players could interact all at the same time.
The all-new “Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2” hub city is seven times larger than the previous one used in the first game. Not only that, the upcoming game will also now let the characters fly in a much-faster speed, which totally adds fun to the game.
Adding more excitement to the game is the addition of new characters like Future Gohan and Future Trunks. The new “Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2” character list will also include Imperfect Cell, Android 16, Turles, Janemba and Time Breaker Bardock.
“Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2” is expected to hit game stores in Oct. 25, 2016. It will be available in PlayStation 4, Xbox One and PC versions. Stay tuned to GamenGuide for more “Dragon Ball Xenoverse 2” game news and updates!
