In just over three weeks, James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad arrives on the big screen and HBO Max, looking to erase any and all memories of David Ayer’s heavily compromised original from the minds of DCEU fans, something it’s planning to do anyway after producer Peter Safran confirmed that the soft reboot isn’t going to reference or acknowledge the first film at all.
One thing it might not be able to accomplish is matching the box office totals of its predecessor, with the lingering effects of the Coronavirus pandemic still heavily impacting the theatrical industry. Suicide Squad managed to earn $746 million globally despite reviews being tepid at best, and Gunn’s R-rated follow up faces a tough task in trying to come close to those numbers.
The current pandemic-era box office champion by a huge margin is Fast & Furious 9, which is rapidly closing in on a haul of $550 million. The latest installment in the blockbuster series also spawned countless of memes about Vin Diesel’s love of family, something The Suicide Squad has gently mocked with a new behind the scenes image, which you can check out below.
Hopes are high that Gunn can replicate his Guardians of the Galaxy magic over at DC Films, and based on everything we’ve seen and heard so far, it looks like he might have pulled it off. The hype is steadily rising heading into The Suicide Squad regardless of how high it manages to fly at the box office, especially when Warner Bros. desperately need a win when it comes to their comic book adaptations after the polarizing reception to Wonder Woman 1984 and the fury from the fanbase over the end of the SnyderVerse.
