It’s no surprise that Suicide Squad is headed towards a big opening weekend. The marketing has been tremendous, it’s got big stars, a nifty hook, and we haven’t had a superhero film since X-Men: Apocalypse back in May. The first week of August has become fairly lucrative in the past few years with Guardians of the Galaxy and Straight Outta Compton becoming massive hits, and Suicide Squad is aiming to continue that trend.

Last month, we reported that Suicide Squad was tracking for an opening weekend box office of $125 million or more, and that number is easily in reach if the film keeps pace with its opening night numbers. Warner Bros. has announced that the film raked in $20.5 million on its opening night, which shatters the previous record held by Guardians of the Galaxy ($11.2 million). Additionally, $2.4 million of Suicide Squad’s opening night came from IMAX screenings, so that bodes well for how it should perform on IMAX screens over the weekend.

But the real test for Suicide Squad is seeing how it can perform over time. Batman v Superman pulled in $166 million on its opening weekend, but then plummeted 69.1% the following weekend, and its end total, $872 million worldwide, was short of the billion Warner Bros. was hoping for. While WB is aiming for a slightly lower worldwide take for Suicide Squad ($750-800 million), the movie will need stronger legs than BvS if it hopes to make that total. Additionally, Suicide Squad probably won’t have the benefit of opening in the world’s second biggest market, China, so that could also hurt its long-term prospects.

We’ll keep you updated on Suicide Squad’s box office throughout the weekend.

For more on Suicide Squad, click on the recent links below.

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Image via Warner Bros.
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Image via Warner Bros.
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Image via Warner Bros.