8 Reasons Why The Suicide Squad Just Bombed At The Box-Office

The original Suicide Squad earned a massive $746 million worldwide, so it's understandable why Warner Bros chose to give the franchise another go. And while the quality of the movie was so much better this time around, the studio seems to have forgotten why that original flick was such a success.

Again, it wasn't because of the brand name "Suicide Squad". And it certainly wasn't because of bottom-of-the-barrel characters like Boomerang, Diablo, and Enchantress. Rather, 2016's skwad was a hit because of Harley Quinn's buzz-worthy cinematic debut, a new version of the Joker... and the fact that Will Smith was in it.

While Smith can struggle when he's put in original flicks like After Earth and Gemini Man, he's absolute gold when you combine him with a pre-established IP. Bad Boys For Life, Aladdin, Men In Black 3, and I Am Legend were box-office monsters, shattering even the wildest of industry expectations.

On the other hand, The Suicide Squad just didn't have that same appeal. Sure, Idris Elba and Margot Robbie are fantastic actors, but they're far from Will Smith-level movie stars. Anytime Elba is in a blockbuster hit (Thor, Prometheus, Hobbs and Shaw), he's always a supporting player, not a leading man - and it doesn't help that the last time many people saw him was in 2019's Cats.