Suicide Squad Leads Box Office, Ben-Hur Fails

Warner Bros. Pictures’ Suicide Squad led the box office for the third straight weekend with $20.86 million, down 52.1 percent from the previous weekend. The superhero film has earned $262.43 million through 17 days, 17.9 percent more than fellow August superhero film Guardians of the Galaxy, which earned $222.66 million through the same period.

Suicide Squad led the box office for the third straight weekend with $20.86 million. (Photo; Warner Bros. Pictures)

Will Suicide Squad lead next weekend for a fourth consecutive week? In the past three years, only five films have achieved the feat: Star Wars: The Force Awakens, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2, The Martian, Furious 7 and Guardians of the Galaxy. It will be difficult, but possible, for Suicide Squad to join that club, with three new wide releases next weekend expected to debut at or slightly above Suicide Squad‘s gross.

Sony Pictures’ Sausage Party claimed second place with $15.49 million in its second weekend, a 54.8 percent drop. The R-rated animated comedy took the No. 2 spot for the second weekend in a row, unable to move Suicide Squad from its perch. With $65.49 million to date, Sausage Party has already surpassed the cumulative grosses of Seth Rogen’s two previous R-rated comedies, this summer’s Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising with $55.34 million and last December’s The Night Before with $43.04 million.

Warner Bros.’ War Dogs opened with $14.690 million for third place – first among this weekend’s three debuts. The R-rated comedy starring Jonah Hill and Miles Teller is based on the true story of two 20-somethings who sold the U.S. military millions of dollars’ worth of equipment and ammunition.

Focus Features’ Kubo and the Two Strings debuted in fourth place with $12.61 million. The stop-motion animated fantasy from Laika Entertainment featuring the voices of Charlize Theron, Rooney Mara and Matthew McConaughey opened decently, but still posted a lower opening weekend than any of Laika’s previous stop-motion releases. It opened 34.1 percent behind the $19.14 million wide opening of Corpse Bride, 27.0 percent behind the $17.27 million opening of The Boxtrolls, 25.1 percent behind the $16.84 million opening of Coraline and 10.4 percent behind the $14.08 million opening of ParaNorman.

This weekend’s other new movie, Paramount Pictures’ Ben-Hur co-produced with MGM crashed with a sixth place opening of $11.20 million. The historical action remake of the 1959 classic starring Jack Huston and Morgan Freeman was unable to capture the iconic nature of the original. With a roughly $100 million budget for the remake, it will be lucky to even make back one third of its budget. It debuts 53.5 percent behind the $24.11 million opening of Exodus: Gods and Kings and 20.7 percent behind the $14.12 million opening of Gods of Egypt in February.