In fifth, Ben-Hur could not live up to its illustrious name, as critical panning also led to a lackluster opening, with an estimated $11.4 million for the weekend against a $100 million budget.
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Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg’s R-rated animated comedy Sausage Party lands in second place with $15.3 million (GBP11.7 million), and Miles Teller and Jonah Hill’s new film War Dogs, in which they portray unlikely global arms dealers, opens in third with $14.3 million (GBP10.9 million).
“Ben-Hur” is more proof that audiences, especially coveted young moviegoers (94% of people who went to see “Ben-Hur” over the weekend were over 25), haven’t been excited about this type of movie since 2000’s “Gladiator”.
Critically acclaimed heist film Hell or High Water, from CBS Films and Lionsgate (NYSE:LGF), continued to do nice business in its limited rollout, grossing $2.7-M as it expanded from 32 theaters to a total of 472 for an early domestic take of $3.5-M.
The failure of “Ben-Hur” is another headache for Paramount, which is dealing with a mostly lackluster year at the box office.
“Suicide Squad took a shrewd box-office strategy”, says Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for comScore.
MGM, whose library includes the Oscar-winning 1959 film starring Charlton Heston, partnered with Paramount in making Ben-Hur and put up the majority of the financing.
Box Office: “Ben-Hur” flops with $11.4 million, “Suicide Squad” still on top was posted in Entertainment of TheNews International – https://www.thenews.com.pk on August 22, 2016 and was last updated on August 22, 2016.
“Kubo and the Two Strings”, an animated film about a boy living in an ancient Japan, debuted with $12.6 million is in fourth place. As it turns out, all three of those newcomers underperformed leading to Suicide Squad winning for the third week in a row with $20.7 million.
Jack Huston stars as Judah Ben-Hur in the new release, which also features Toby Kebbell as his adopted brother and nemesis Messala and Rodrigo Santoro as Jesus.
Still, fueled by “Suicide Squad” and “Sausage Party”, the box office was up more than 22 per cent over the same weekend a year ago, according to comScore.
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A comedy-drama about two arms dealers in over their heads supplying weapons to United States forces in Iraq, its blend of light entertainment and serious subject matter got mixed reviews. War Dogs finished third this week with $14.3 million and I was expecting it to find a larger audience.
