Yesterday, we predicted that Suicide Squad will take in over $140 million at the box office during its opening weekend, which would set a new record for the biggest August debut ever. However, at the same time, the first reviews were released, and they weren't very positive, with the movie currently standing at a 33% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Shortly after the first wave of reviews arrived, director David Ayer took to social media to defend his comic book adaptation from these reviews.

While he didn't necessarily mention any particular review or critic on Twitter, he first posted a quote from Mexican revolutionary Emiliano Zapata, which translates to "I'd rather die on my feet than live on my knees." He clarified that this quote was his way of saying, "I love the movie and believe in it. Made it for the fans. Best experience of my life." The directors tweets come shortly after he had to apologize on social media earlier this week for saying "f--k Marvel" during the world premiere screening in New York City.

If these box office projections hold true, then Suicide Squad will wind up with the third highest opening weekend of 2016, behind Marvel's Captain America: Civil War ($179.1 million) and Warner Bros./DC's Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice ($166 million). Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice also suffered from a spate of negative reviews, but still managed to pull in $330.6 million domestic (sixth highest in 2016) and $872.6 million worldwide (fourth highest in 2016). Batman v Superman was produced with a whopping $250 million budget, with a report surfacing earlier today that the budget on Suicide Squad reached $175 million.

That report claims that director David Ayer was on an incredibly tight schedule with Suicide Squad, with immense pressure from the studio to fix problems with the movie after Batman v Superman opened to frigid response from both fans and critics alike. Both David Ayer and Warner production president Greg Silverman released a joint statement claiming that they are both proud of the movie that resulted in a lot of "experimentation and collaboration." It remains to be seen how the chilly critical response and these reports will affect the box office.

There were also previous reports that Warner Bros. wants David Ayer to come back for Suicide Squad 2, which the studio was eyeing to shoot in early 2017. The filmmaker has already signed on to reunite with Suicide Squad star Will Smith on the Netflix thriller Bright, but the studio wants both the director and star to come back after production wraps on that project, although nothing has been confirmed for the sequel quite yet. While we wait to see how Suicide Squad fares at the box office, take a look at David Ayer's tweets below.