Warning! Spoilers for The Suicide Squad
According to data tracker Samba, The Suicide Squad was watched by 2.8 million households over its debut weekend. James Gunn's spiritual reboot-sequel to David Ayer's 2016 film was well-received by critics and audiences thanks to its no-holds-barred action, bloody deaths, and comedic tone. The only characters Gunn brought back from Ayer's original film were Margot Robbie's Harley Quinn, Joel Kinnaman's Rick Flag, Jai Courtney's Captainb Boomerang, and Viola Davis' Amanda Waller and only two of them made it out alive.
Gunn had warned audiences about the impending bloodbath, but only five members of Task Force X made it out of The Suicide Squad alive, including Harley, Idris Elba's Bloodsport, Daniela Melchior's Ratcatcher 2, John Cena's Peacemaker, and King Shark, voiced by Sylvester Stallone. Tragically, Rick Flag died in a climactic fight with Peacemaker, while the rest of the cast was taken out throughout the dangerous mission on the island of Corto Maltese. All these twists and turns and tragic deaths, though, were available to see in both theaters and on HBO Max via Warner Bros. initiative to debut their 2021 slate on their streaming service.
Now, Samba has reported The Suicide Squad's viewership numbers on HBO Max (via ViewerAnon on Twitter). According to the data tracking website, 2.8 million households watched The Suicide Squad over the weekend after its debut on the platform on Thursday evening. This does not account for every individual that watched the film, but rather every household that accessed via the streaming platform.
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On the box office front, The Suicide Squad had the second lowest debut of the DCEU, but this is due to a couple factors. With the rise of the COVID Delta variant, many are once again hesitant to head to theaters. Additionally, the Suicide Squad brand may be tarnished after the lackluster reception to the original film and there's nothing to differentiate Gunn's film from Ayer's in terms of its title and even some of it characters. Still, the debut was surprising considering the stellar reviews for the film.
It's unclear how HBO Max could have affected The Suicide Squad's box office take. There's no telling how many people who watched the movie on HBO Max would've headed to the theater if they did not have the option to stream it. Still, it's clear that The Suicide Squad's availability on HBO Max certainly pulled some away from seeing it on the big screen and Samba's numbers make it clear that those households could have contributed greatly to the movie's box office take even if only half of the households who streamed it had headed to the movies.
Source: ViewerAnon
