Suicide Squad sets new Thursday preshow record for August

Warner Bros. Pictures‘ Suicide Squad opened in North American theaters last night with $20.5 million, which marks the highest Thursday preshow ever for the month of August, surpassing Guardians of the Galaxy‘s $11.2 million from August 2014. Guardians of the Galaxy went on to earn $94.3 million its first weekend, which is still the record for an August opener. Suicide Squad is expected to easily beat that number. The Thursday preshow total for Suicide Squad includes IMAX theaters, where the film grossed $2.4 million.

Internationally, Suicide Squad grossed $20.8 million on Thursday in 33 markets, ranking #1 in all of them. The film is now open in 40 markets and the two-day overseas total is $29.6 million.

The comic book adaptation stars Will Smith (Ali, The Pursuit of Happyness), Margot Robbie (The Wolf of Wall Street, Focus), Joel Kinnaman (Netflix’s “House of Cards”), Viola Davis (The Help, Doubt), Jai Courtney (Insurgent), Jay Hernandez (Takers), Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje (Thor: The Dark World), Ike Barinholtz (Neighbors), Scott Eastwood (Fury), Cara Delevingne (Paper Towns), Adam Beach (Cowboys & Aliens), and Karen Fukuhara in her feature film debut.

You can read our two Suicide Squad reviews by clicking here and here.

It feels good to be bad… Assemble a team of the world’s most dangerous, incarcerated Super Villains, provide them with the most powerful arsenal at the government’s disposal, and send them off on a mission to defeat an enigmatic, insuperable entity. U.S. intelligence officer Amanda Waller has determined only a secretly convened group of disparate, despicable individuals with next to nothing to lose will do. However, once they realize they weren’t picked to succeed but chosen for their patent culpability when they inevitably fail, will the Suicide Squad resolve to die trying, or decide it’s every man for himself?

Written and directed by David Ayer and based on the characters from DC Comics, the film was produced by Charles Roven and Richard Suckle, with Zack Snyder, Deborah Snyder, Colin Wilson and Geoff Johns serving as executive producers.