Seth Rogen‘s adult animated comedy Sausage Party finished at No. 2 for the second straight week, grabbing $15.3 million.
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“Ben-Hur” drew a crowd that was 51% female and 94% over the age of 25.
Hollywood’s latest big-budget attempt to fill multiplexes with faith-based moviegoers and general audiences floundered this weekend, collecting an estimated $11.4 million in fifth place in the USA and Canada. However, while the movie may have met the analysts predictions, it certainly came in well under the studios hope of $20 million domestically.
“War Dogs“, the first movie after “The Hangover” trilogy for director Todd Phillips, was lambasted by critics but sold a decent $14.3 million in ticket sales.
The film is one of two big summer releases for Paramount, which has struggled at the box office.
After a summer characterised by box-office blunders, it was barely thinkable that yet another $100 million-plus budget film could flop. Overseas, the epic rolled out in about 33% of the marketplace, grossing $10.7-M for a global box office open of $22-M.
Meanwhile, the remake of classic movie “Ben-Hur” failed to score a number one position in its opening weekend. Worldwide release has been limited and foreign markets might eventually help make up the difference, but despite being critically celebrated it’s unlikely to be one of the top ten earning animated features of the year.
Holdover Pete’s Dragon and Ben-Hur ended the to be in a close race for fifth place.
“Ben-Hur is the epic story of Judah Ben-Hur (Jack Huston), a prince falsely accused of treason by his adopted brother Messala (Toby Kebbell), an officer in the Roman army”. In a weekend that featured the new wide releases of War Dogs and Kubo and the Two Strings, the Biblical movie should have had more of a fighting chance.
The well-reviewed “Kubo and the Two Strings” placed No. 4. Previously, “Guardians of the Galaxy” held the record for the the month’s highest opening weekend with $94.3 million. It has grossed a total of $65.8 million in two weeks and shows little sign of losing momentum.
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With $262.2 million through three weekends and a slower box office decline from week-to-week than Batman v Superman, perhaps there is a slight silver lining for Suicide Squad through the critical and fan backlash. Can any of them topple Suicide Squad?
