But after the fifth place opening of “Ben-Hur”, the second coming of the sword-and-sandal movie appears to be attracting dwindling flocks of moviegoers.
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“The news just gets worse and worse for Ben-Hur”.
A big-budget remake of “Ben-Hur” was trampled under a herd of holdovers and new releases at the box office, the latest casualty in a bruising summer for Hollywood.
The superhero epic “Suicide Squad” from Warner Bros. added another estimated $20.7 million in its third week, landing in first place.
“Sausage Party“, $15.3 million ($2.1 million international).
The new film stars Jack Huston as Judah Ben-Hur, alongside Morgan Freeman and Rodrigo Santoro, who plays Jesus Christ.
While you can be sure DC and Warner Bros. would much rather be critical darlings like Marvel Studios, you can’t argue with numbers like what Suicide Squad is bringing in. Jonah Hill and Miles Teller aren’t yet draws as headlining stars (comedies or otherwise), so I guess it is a push in deciding if fourteen million is a decent opening or not.
With “Ben-Hur” faltering, “Suicide Squad” managed to snag first place for the third consecutive weekend. Kabuto and the Two Strings followed in fourth with $12.6 million.
“The Secret Life of Pets“, $45 million.
However, in today’s moviegoing landscape, if audiences want to see a movie in theaters that’s two hours long, it better feature all our favorite superheroes jammed in it or Leonardo DiCaprio frozen in the wilderness fighting a bear and sleeping inside a horse. It met analyst projections of $12 million to $15 million and is a respectable start for a film that cost less than $50 million to make.
War Dogs drew more males (56%), and 51% of ticket buyers were over the age of 35. There’s also a good chance that Suicide Squad can stay on top till September, when Clint Eastwood’s Sully comes out. The Oscars for William Wyler’s 1959 classic with Charlton Heston included awards for best picture, best actor and best director.
“This has been a monumental August”, said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst with ComScore.
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Still, fueled by “Suicide Squad” and “Sausage Party”, the box office was up more than 22 percent over the same weekend past year, according to comScore. With Ben-Hur’s overseas roll-out still ongoing, it may make its money back eventually, but for now, the period epic joins the likes of The BFG and Alice Through the Looking Glass on the list of films that have struggled to survive in 2016’s gladiatorial arena.
