While “Ben-Hur” did poorly at movie theaters over the weekend, it isn’t the only failure Paramount Pictures has had this year.
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Viacom formally announced this weekend that Dauman will exit his role as CEO and be succeeded by Thomas Dooley, the company’s current COO. Overseas, it grossed $10.7 million for a global debut of $22 million – preforming the best in Mexico and Brazil.
“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”.
ReelViews: “An amateurish effort that boasts direct-to-video characteristics, the latest version disappoints in nearly every production aspect”.
The latter two titles had a religious tone, like the new “Ben-Hur”, which for some movies has helped tremendously, leading faith-based viewers to come out in droves to support them.
The film, it seems, could not expand beyond its core Christian audience. It scored $20.7 million, bringing its domestic total haul to more than $260 million. Paramount Vice-Chairman Rob Moore noted that “Ben-Hur” is the latest in a string of remakes and sequels such as “Independence Day: Resurgence” and “Ghostbusters” to have failed to draw crowds. Time Warner Inc.’sWarner Bros. released the movie.
In a late summer line-up comprising such movies as bawdy foodstuff comedy Sausage Party, comedy-drama War Dogs, and Laika’s animated film Kubo and the Two Strings, Ben-Hur had to make do with a debut at the fifth spot in the U.S. top 10. The film added another 2.1 million dollars internationally this weekend, standing at 71.3 million dollars worldwide.
The well-reviewed Kubo and the Two Strings garnered an A CinemaScore, placed #4 with an $12.6-M debut from 3,260 theaters.
The continued success of “Suicide Squad” and “Sausage Party” lifted overall receipts almost 25% from the same weekend a year ago – a period that saw the release of “Sinister 2” and “Hitman: Agent 47”.
But revised official numbers found the saga actually made $11.2 million, knocking it out of the psychologically important top-five position. Positive reviews haven’t lead to big box office success in the past with Laika films.
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.
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Sausage Party holds second place for the second straight week with $15.3 million raising its total domestic gross to $65.3 million.
