Fans and critics have been having mixed reactions to “Suicide Squad” since it debuted on Friday, but Warner Bros. is standing behind the film and its impressive opening weekend numbers.

While the Rotten Tomatoes critic rating of the David Ayer film is a regrettable 26%, the audience numbers rank it at 72%, and Warner Bros. VP of distribution, Jeff Goldstein, is pleased with the film’s reception so far. He said of the movie, “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.”

Goldstein also added, “The elephant in the room is that the reviews were harsh. Clearly there’s disconnect between audiences and critics.” This was made plain last week when, after early reviews were not kind to “Suicide Squad,” fans reacted very angrily and even expressed a desire to shut down the Rotten Tomatoes site, all this before the movie had been released in theatres.

The film broke a record for biggest August release, though there was a noticeable dip in ticket sales between Friday and Saturday. We’ll have to wait and see if that decline continues or if “Suicide Squad” continues to bring in eager audiences.