It may have been lukewarmly received, and even panned by some film critics, but Suicide Squad has smashed box office records in the US with a huge opening weekend.
The DC supervillain movie's less-than-favourable reviews even inspired one fan to set up a petition to shut down the aggregate movie review site Rotten Tomatoes, where it currently has a score of just 26%.
However, this it hasn't stopped fans from rushing to see the comic-book adaptation on the big screen, taking in a whopping $135 million in its first weekend.
This sets a new benchmark for an August launch, beating the Guardian of the Galaxy's former record of $94.3 million.
The action spectacle also performed excellently internationally, raking in $132 million from 57 territories, bringing its global total to more than $267 million.
Jeff Goldstein of Warner Bros said of the record: "It bested anything that we could have expected.
"The marketing campaign was brilliant and the performances by the cast, starting with Will Smith, Margot Robbie and Jared Leto, were just extraordinary. They’re fun and wicked and fans enjoy it."
RTÉ Entertainment gave the movie three stars in its review saying that when "when you look past the tenuous plot, Suicide Squad is still very much worth the watch, but it's been over-hyped to the point that expectations might be a bit too hard to reach."
