LOS ANGELES _ Warner Bros.' hit super-villain mashup "Suicide Squad" is expected to dominate the domestic box office again, topping new movies including Disney's "Pete's Dragon" and Sony Pictures' "Sausage Party."
"Suicide Squad" opened to an August record-breaking tally of $134 million in U.S.-Canada ticket sales, easily beating the previous monthly benchmark set by 2014's "Guardians of the Galaxy."
The big question this time, though, is how much will "Suicide Squad's" ticket sales decline in its second weekend of release _ another potential barometer for the health of the studio's DC superhero franchise as it competes with Disney's Marvel Studios.
A strong second-round gross would be good news for Warner Bros., which has bet big on its lineup of upcoming DC comic book movies, including "Wonder Woman" and "Justice League."
"The true test of an audience's appreciation for a movie is the second weekend drop," said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for the entertainment data firm comScore. "We've seen a lot of movies take some pretty steep second-weekend drops this summer."
Industry insiders predict that the $175 million "Suicide Squad" will gross about $47 million Friday through Sunday in the U.S. and Canada, representing a decline of 65 percent. That would follow the pattern set by other recent DC-Warner Bros. releases, including the 2013 Superman film "Man of Steel."
Working in the movie's favor is a lack of competition for the core demographic of comic-book and action-movie fans. Also, "Suicide Squad" is off to a strong start internationally, with $133 million in ticket sales so far from countries including Britain, Russia and Brazil.
But poor reviews and a middling CinemaScore of B-plus could be a bad sign for "Suicide Squad." "Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice," which suffered from mostly negative critic ratings, fell nearly 70 percent from its massive $166 million first-weekend gross in March.
"Suicide Squad's" likely spot at the top of the box-office list leaves a battle for second place between two very different movies: the family-friendly fantasy "Pete's Dragon" and the foul-mouthed food cartoon "Sausage Party."
The highest-grossing new release will probably be "Pete's Dragon," the latest remake of a classic Walt Disney Co. property. The movie, with a budget of $65 million, is expected to pull in $25 million or more in its domestic launch, according to people who have reviewed pre-release audience surveys.
That would be a solid start for a movie based on a 1977 film that is not considered a top-tier Disney canon entry. The original, about a child who befriends a mythical creature seen only to him, was a musical that used a hybrid of live-action filmmaking and drawn animation, in the vein of "Mary Poppins."
Disney has had a successful run with its live-action fairy-tale remakes, including this year's big hit "The Jungle Book" (grossing $942 million worldwide). But Disney has not been immune to Hollywood's rocky summer months at the box office, fielding duds such as "Alice Through the Looking Glass" and "The BFG."
For grown-up audiences, Sony and Megan Ellison's Annapurna Pictures will debut their R-rated "Sausage Party," about talking grocery store items that realize what horrors await when humans purchase them.
The well-reviewed comedy, starring the voices of Seth Rogen (as a hot dog) and Kristen Wiig (as a hot dog bun), may gross $20 million in its first three days of release, a strong debut for a movie that cost $19 million to make. It should benefit from strong responses from critics and marketing that emphasizes its off-color humor and twisted "Toy Story"-esque premise.
Going against the sick jokes and family fare at the multiplex, Paramount Pictures will release "Florence Foster Jenkins," about a New York socialite and heiress who pursues a singing career despite a lack of natural talent. It's the latest film by Stephen Frears, the British director of "Philomena" and "The Queen."
The PG-13 film, starring Meryl Streep and Hugh Grant, is expected to gross about $8 million through Sunday. Based on a true story, the comedy-drama is primarily targeted at older moviegoers, who do not tend to turn up in huge crowds for a film's opening weekend.
In limited release, CBS Films and Lionsgate will open the Chris Pine crime drama "Hell or High Water" in 32 theaters in order to build positive buzz for the positively reviewed movie.
Despite several high-profile duds and disappointing sequels, total industrywide ticket sales have hit $3.65 billion so far this summer in the U.S. and Canada, up 1 percent compared with the same period of time last year, according to comScore.
