Suicide Squad stayed # 1 in its 3rd weekend, grossing $20.7-M from 3,924 theaters for a domestic take of $262.3-M.
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Though the director of the new “Ben-Hur”, Timur Bekmambetov (“Wanted“, “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter“), put a thrilling chariot race in his movie, along with a few other above-average action sequences, it’s nowhere close to delivering on the dramatics or story strength of the Heston version (even with Bekmambetov’s having a scene in which Jesus is crucified).
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).
The big-budget reimagining of “Ben-Hur” crashed and burned at the box office, weighing in as one of the biggest flops of the summer during a weekend in which holdovers “Suicide Squad” and “Sausage Party” maintained their top spots. Falling just behind Suicide Squad was Sausage Party, which earned $15.3 million for a second-place finish in its second weekend.
Ben-Hur, was hammered by critics but earned an A- CinemaScore. Some of the movies this summer have gotten as much as 90 percent of their global box office totals from overseas, he said.
Paramount did protect itself financially on “Ben-Hur” by teaming with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, which paid for 80 percent of the production costs.
It hoped to attract faith-based moviegoers, but that effort was challenged.
MGM and Paramount co-produced the remake of the 1959 classic blockbuster.
This is the movie War Dogs with Miles Teller, Jonah Hill and Bradley Cooper takes the third place ranking. The Los Angeles-based, Viacom Inc. -owned company is ranked No. 5 out of the six major studios in terms of domestic box-office market share this year, ahead of Sony Pictures.
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“Kubo and the Two Strings”, an animated feature about a boy seeking his destiny in mystical Japan, grossed $12.6 million. “Ben-Hur” received an “A-” and “War Dogs” got a “B”. BFG netted about million on its opening weekend, a stark contrast against its $140 million budget. It could also very well kill the historical epic genre for good. “No major movie wants to open wide outside the top five”, says Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for comScore.
