The Suicide Squad blasted its way to the top of the weekend box office charts and dethroned The Conjuring: The Devil Made Me Do It as having the highest debut figures for an R-rated movie in the coronavirus pandemic era.

However, box office analysts regarded The Suicide Squad’s $26.5 million earnings as falling on the lower end of the forecast. The James Gunn-directed DC movie is also streaming simultaneously on HBO Max at no extra charge.

Still, there’s hope that the Warner Bros. film, which is getting good reviews and favorable moviegoer audience feedback, will have legs.

While Will Smith (as Deadshot) and Jared Leto (The Joker) were in David Ayer’s Suicide Squad in 2016, the two actors are missing in The Suicide Squad.

Still, the 2021 The Suicide Squad boasts of this cast: Margot Robbie (Harley Quinn), Idris Elba (Bloodsport), John Cena (Peacemaker), Joel Kinnaman (Colonel Rick Flag), Viola Davis (Amanda Waller), Sylvester Stallone (King Shark), Daniela Melchior (Cleo Cazo, aka Ratcatcher 2), Peter Capaldi (Thinker) and David Dastmalchian (Polka-Dot Man).

Dwayne Johnson and Emily Blunt’s Jungle Cruise sailed to number two with $15.7 million. The Disney action-adventure-comedy inspired by the iconic Disneyland ride, directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, has taken in $65.3 million so far.

Old was still fresh at third place with $4.1 million. M. Night Shyamalan’s latest horror entry, distributed by Universal Pictures, has picked up $38.5 million after three weeks.

Black Widow, which has Hollywood talking because of star Scarlett Johansson’s lawsuit claiming that Disney breached her contract by releasing the film on Disney +, raked in $4 million. With its overall revenues of $174.4 million, the Cate Shortland-directed Marvel Cinematic Universe release eclipsed F9 as the biggest grossing movie during the COVID-19 health crisis period.

Matt Damon’s Stillwater clung to the fifth spot with $2.86 million. The Focus Features drama, directed by Tom McCarthy, has earned $10 million so far.

The rest of the top 10 finishers were A24’s The Green Knight with Dev Patel ($2.6 million), Warner Brothers’ Space Jam: A New Legacy ($2.48 million), Paramount Pictures’ Snake Eyes: G.I. Joe Origins with Henry Golding ($1.63 million), Sony Pictures’ Escape Room: Tournament of Champions ($1.25 million) and Universal Pictures’ F9 ($1.2 million).

In the offshore box office action, The Suicide Squad also reigned at the top with $35 million. With number one bows in Spain, Brazil, Italy, and Mexico, Suicide Squad 2 has nabbed $45.7 million overall internationally.

In China, the box office champ was still Donnie Yen’s Raging Fire, an action-drama written and directed by the late Benny Chan. The movie, in which Donnie portrays a cop with a sterling record until his sting operation sets off a chain of events, collected $21.5 million.

With a cast that includes Nicholas Tse, Jeana Ho, Ray Lui, Patrick Tam, and Ben Lam, Raging Fire has raised $83 million in the world’s biggest film market.

Jungle Cruise took in $15.1 million to increase its offshore revenues to $56.5 million. China still has to show the film.

F9, which has been screened in China and did very well, drew $12.03 million in overseas territories for a cumulative international take of $490.3 million.