Weekend Box Office: Can 'Suicide Squad' Beat 'Batman v Superman'?

Suicide Squad delivered the big opening weekend it was expected to deliver, but it did even more than that. The DC Comics movie is heading for an opening-weekend gross of near $140 million, and it's likely to move into third place for the year in terms of big openings, ahead of even the year's early blockbuster Deadpool.

In order for Suicide Squad to move ahead of the opening of its fellow DC movie Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, it will have to earn more than $166 million for the weekend. That is not going to happen.

Suicide Squad started strong by setting an August record for Thursday previews and then continued strong by taking in more than $65 million Friday. The movie is performing extremely well, especially considering that it's received terrible reviews from critics. Fans don't seem to care, and the movie is scoring better than expected with women and with younger viewers.

The movie's PG-13 rating - something that was lamented by a faction of fans who hoped for a grittier movie - no doubt helped broaden its audience. More than a quarter of Suicide Squad's viewers have been under 18, an audience that was essentially excluded from the R-rated Deadpool.

The week's other new release, the kitty comedy Nine Lives, got lost in the superhero chaos and is expected to take in about $6 million for the weekend. Second place for the week will go to last week's winner, Jason Bourne.