Suicide Squad
The fact that even most DCEU fans label Suicide Squad as the cinematic universe’s poorest offering tells you all you need to know about it. It wasn’t just negatively received by critics (27% on Rotten Tomatoes) and fans alike; it was mauled. For all intents and purposes, it should’ve flopped hard at the box office. But instead, it made more money than the studio’s 2017 centerpiece Justice League.
The budget for the film was a reported $175 million and it brought in a whopping $746.8 million worldwide. So, what was the key to the pic’s financial success despite the critical kryptonite? Undoubtedly, the marketing campaign that featured a lot of great music and teased a completely different movie.
If you compare it to Doctor Strange – which came out a few months later, received an 89% Rotten Tomatoes score, cost an estimated $165 million and brought in $677.7 million – you’d see that Rotten Tomatoes be damned here.
Iron Man 3
For many, the last great Iron Man film was the original released in 2008. That’s not to say that the other two sequels were unwatchable – not at all – but for Iron Man 3 to join the billion-dollar club, it left a lot of people surprised. Was it really that good of a movie?
Undoubtedly, the Shane Black-helmed pic rode off The Avengers wave from the previous year as the audience craved more of Marvel’s heroes. But to haul in $1.215 billion off a budget of $200 million is quite remarkable in any climate.
What’s even more surprising is how the Mandarin reveal in the film disappointed a lot of fans, yet it still bossed the box office. It makes you wonder why Marvel gets a free pass with its controversial creative changes while DC would be slammed for doing something similar…