Weekend Box Office Predictions
August 6 - August 8, 2021
Published on August 5, 2021 at 5:30PM Pacific |
| Warner's The Suicide Squad will look to claim first place this weekend upon arriving in theatres. The James Gunn directed standalone sequel to 2016's Suicide Squad features an ensemble cast that
includes Margot Robbie, Joel Kinnaman, Jai Courtney and Viola Davis returning from the 2016 film, as well as Idris Elba, John Cena, Pete Davidson and the voice of Sylvester Stallone. The Suicide Squad will be playing on IMAX screens
this weekend, will have Thursday preview shows beginning at 7PM and like Warner's other 2021 releases, will also be opening day-and-date this weekend via streaming on HBO Max. Perhaps a bit surprisingly, critical reviews for
The Suicide Squad have been exceptional; whereas critical reviews for 2016's Suicide Squad were quite poor. Nonetheless, anticipation for The Suicide Squad doesn't look to be anywhere near the level it was for
2016's Suicide Squad (the YouTube trailer views count for The Suicide Squad has been especially concerning for a high-profile comic book adaptation), which is likely due at least in part to Jared Leto's The Joker and
Will Smith's Deadshot not being part of The Suicide Squad. Instead, The Suicide Squad could find itself opening in the same neighborhood as the recent respective $35.0 million and $31.1 million debuts of Jungle Cruise and
Space Jam: A New Legacy, as well as the $33.0 million pre-pandemic debut of fellow DCEU / Harley Quinn film Birds of Prey back in February of 2020. One advantage The Suicide Squad will have this weekend is that the
film looks to be getting the fourth highest opening weekend showtimes per location average of any film this summer (behind only Black Widow, F9 and A Quiet Place Part II). If the film goes over with audiences
anywhere near the level it has gone over with critics, it's also possible that The Suicide Squad could hold up better than usual for a high-profile comic book adaptation throughout the month of August
(especially after next weekend). As for this weekend, BoxOfficeReport feels that The Suicide Squad will debut in first place with $32.0 million. That would represent the fifth largest opening weekend since the re-opening of
domestic theatres and the largest opening weekend for an R-rated film since re-opening. |
| After exceeding opening weekend expectations last weekend with its mentioned $35.0 million debut, Disney's Jungle Cruise is set to comfortably take second place this weekend. It's no secret that lately
nearly all films have been experiencing sharp second weekend declines and it's unlikely that Jungle Cruise will be able to avoid that trend, especially with the film losing its IMAX screens to The Suicide Squad this weekend.
Films opening day-and-date theatrically and via steaming have been getting hit especially hard during their respective second weekends at the theatrical box office. But Jungle Cruise could avoid experiencing an extra sharp
decline this weekend, due in part to the film's strong early word of mouth among audiences. The film's initial daily holds have also been very encouraging thus far and earlier this summer fellow Disney release Cruella displayed
some of this summer's stronger holding power. A sharp, but relatively respectable decline of 57 percent would put Jungle Cruise on course for $15.2 million this weekend. |
| Disney's Black Widow finally stabilized this past weekend, when it declined a respectable 44 percent to take fourth with $6.47 million. With the film only losing 279 locations from last weekend,
Black Widow is likely to hold up even better this weekend than it did last weekend (even with the new direct competition from The Suicide Squad). Look for Black Widow to decline a very solid 35 percent and to move
up one spot from last weekend to take a distant third this weekend with $4.2 million. In other box office news for Black Widow, on Wednesday the film surpassed the $169.58 million current total gross of F9 to become the highest
grossing film domestically since re-opening. Through Wednesday, the 27-day domestic total for Black Widow stands at $169.65 million and the film should be within shouting distance of the $175 million domestic mark by the end of
the weekend. |
| With its sharp second weekend decline behind it, Universal's Old is likely to stabilize this weekend as well. Last weekend Old fell 59 percent to just edge out The Green Knight for second place
with $6.86 million. This weekend, Old could fall 45 percent and two spots from last weekend to land in fourth place with $3.8 million. |
| Last weekend A24's The Green Knight and Focus' Stillwater had respective third place and fifth place starts of $6.79 million and $5.19 million. While The Green Knight has gone over better with
critics than Stillwater has, it appears that Stillwater is going over a bit better with audiences than The Green Knight has. Although Stillwater should hold up better than The Green Knight this weekend,
The Green Knight is still likely to finish just ahead of Stillwater this weekend. BoxOfficeReport expects that The Green Knight will decline 59 percent to take fifth with $2.8 million and that Stillwater will
decrease 52 percent to claim sixth with $2.5 million. |
| Meanwhile, Warner's Space Jam: A New Legacy could decline a sizable 47 percent to finish in seventh place this weekend with $2.3 million. |
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Predictions for this weekend's top 9 films at the domestic box office.
| Rank | Film (Distributor) | Weekend Gross |
Total Gross |
% Change |
Week # |
| 1 | The Suicide Squad (Warner Bros.) |
$32.0 M | $32.0 M | NEW | 1 |
| 2 | Jungle Cruise (Disney) |
$15.2 M | $64.7 M | -57% | 2 |
| 3 | Black Widow (Disney) |
$4.2 M | $174.6 M | -35% | 5 |
| 4 | Old (Universal) |
$3.8 M | $38.2 M | -45% | 3 |
| 5 | The Green Knight (A24) |
$2.8 M | $12.4 M | -59% | 2 |
| 6 | Stillwater (Focus) |
$2.5 M | $9.6 M | -52% | 2 |
| 7 | Space Jam: A New Legacy (Warner Bros.) |
$2.3 M | $65.4 M | -47% | 4 |
| 8 | Snake Eyes (Paramount) |
$1.5 M | $25.9 M | -63% | 3 |
| 9 | F9 (Universal) |
$1.3 M | $171.1 M | -51% | 7 |
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