Suicide Squad led the box office for the third straight weekend, with Sausage Party not far behind, as War Dogs and Kubo and the Two Strings opened solidly and Ben-Hur bombed.
Warner Bros.’ Suicide Squad took in an estimated $20.71 million, down 52.4 percent. The superhero team film has earned $262.28 million through its third weekend, which is up 17.7 percent over fellow August superhero film Guardians of the Galaxy having earned $222.66 million through the same point in its 2014 run.
Will Squad lead next weekend for a fourth consecutive frame? 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 Squad to join that club, with three new wide releases next weekend expected to debut at or slightly above Squad‘s gross.
Sony’s Sausage Party claimed second place with an estimated $15.32 million in its second weekend, a 55.3 percent decline. The R-rated comedy took the penultimate spot for the second weekend in a row, being unable to unlodge Squad from its perch. With $65.32 million to date, Party has already eclipsed the cumulative grosses of Seth Rogen’s two previous R-rated comedy, 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 an estimated $14.30 million for third place, and first place among the weekend’s three debuts. The R-rated comedy starring Jonah Hill and Miles Teller is based on a true story two 20-somethings who sold the U.S. military millions of dollars’ worth of equipment and ammunition. The audience was 56 percent male and 51 percent under 35 years old — both figures surprisingly low given the two young male leads and a military-themed storyline. The movie started 27.6 percent above the $11.20 million opening of The Nice Guys and 19.7 percent behind the $17.81 million opening of Let’s Be Cops.
War Dogs started with $5.57 million on Friday (including $1.25 million in Thursday night previews), declined 11.4 percent on Saturday to $4.93 million, and dropped another 22.9 percent on Sunday to $3.80 million. That gives it an estimated opening weekend to Friday ratio of 2.56 to 1.
Focus Features’ Kubo and the Two Strings started in fourth place with an estimated $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 started 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.
Kubo started with $4.08 million on Friday (including $515 thousand in Thursday night previews), increased an impressive 19.2 percent on Saturday to $4.87 million, and declined 25.0 percent on Sunday to $3.65 million. That gives it an estimated opening weekend to Friday ratio of 3.08 to 1 — not bad for an animated film.
Ben-Hur, a co-production of Paramount and MGM, derailed with a fifth place opening of an estimated $11.35 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 an abysmal 29 percent rating on Rotten Tomatoes compared to 88 percent for its predecessor. With a roughly $100 million budget for the remake, this will be lucky to even make back one third of its budget. It starts 52.9 percent behind the $24.11 million opening of Exodus: Gods and Kings and 19.6 percent behind the $14.12 million opening of Gods of Egypt in February.
Ben-Hur started with $4.13 million on Friday (including $900 thousand in Thursday night previews), declined a near-zero 0.2 percent on Saturday to $4.12 million, and dropped 24.9 percent on Sunday to $3.09 million. That places its opening weekend to Friday ratio at an estimated 2.74 to 1.
The top 10 films this weekend made an estimated $111.73 million, which is 27.3 percent behind the top 10 total last weekend and 30.9 percent ahead of the top 10 on the same weekend last year when Straight Outta Compton led.
Overseas Update:
The Secret Life of Pets and Suicide Squad were far and away the top two films at the overseas box office, with about triple the overseas gross of any other films this weekend.
Pets — though starting to fade domestically as it drops from sixth to ninth place — dominated overseas with an estimated $45.0 million overseas, up 12.5 percent. That was at least in part to its opening in six new markets to 53 total, though it also had great holds in its existing markets. The film has now made $327.8 million overseas and $674.5 million globally.
Suicide Squad made an estimated $38.0 million overseas, down 35.3 percent, in 64 markets. The film has earned a terrific $310.4 million overseas and $572.6 million globally.
Studio Weekend Estimates for Friday, August 19 – Sunday, August 21, 2016:
| # | TITLE | WEEKEND | LOCATIONS | AVG. | TOTAL | WKS. | DIST. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Suicide Squad | $20,710,000 | -52% | 3,924 | -331 | $5,278 | $262,283,335 | 3 | Warner Bros. |
| 2 | Sausage Party | $15,325,000 | -55% | 3,103 | 0 | $4,939 | $65,326,019 | 2 | Sony / Columbia |
| 3 | War Dogs | $14,300,000 | — | 3,258 | — | $4,389 | $14,300,000 | 1 | Warner Bros. |
| 4 | Kubo and the Two Strings | $12,600,000 | — | 3,260 | — | $3,865 | $12,600,000 | 1 | Focus |
| 5 | Ben-Hur (2016) | $11,350,000 | — | 3,084 | — | $3,680 | $11,350,000 | 1 | Paramount |
| 6 | Pete’s Dragon (2016) | $11,331,000 | -47% | 3,702 | 0 | $3,061 | $42,892,269 | 2 | Disney |
| 7 | Bad Moms | $8,068,000 | -29% | 2,811 | -377 | $2,870 | $85,800,428 | 4 | STX Entertainment |
| 8 | Jason Bourne | $7,980,000 | -42% | 2,887 | -641 | $2,764 | $140,883,285 | 4 | Universal |
| 9 | The Secret Life of Pets | $5,770,000 | -36% | 2,404 | -554 | $2,400 | $346,722,030 | 7 | Universal |
| 10 | Florence Foster Jenkins | $4,300,000 | -35% | 1,528 | 0 | $2,814 | $14,405,743 | 2 | Paramount |
| 11 | Star Trek Beyond | $4,000,000 | -42% | 1,966 | -611 | $2,035 | $146,931,370 | 5 | Paramount |
| 12 | Nine Lives (2016) | $1,400,000 | -60% | 1,364 | -900 | $1,026 | $17,054,024 | 3 | EuropaCorp Films |
| # | TITLE | WEEKEND | LOCATIONS | AVG. | TOTAL | WKS. | DIST. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Hell or High Water | $2,650,000 | 327% | 472 | 440 | $5,614 | $3,527,687 | 2 | CBS Films / Lionsgate |
| 2 | Lights Out | $1,625,000 | -49% | 942 | -710 | $1,725 | $64,245,376 | 5 | Warner Bros. / New Line |
| 3 | Nerve | $1,265,000 | -52% | 859 | -918 | $1,473 | $35,868,065 | 4 | Lionsgate |
| 4 | Ghostbusters (2016) | $1,100,000 | -52% | 788 | -649 | $1,396 | $123,960,434 | 6 | Sony / Columbia |
| 5 | Finding Dory | $947,000 | -28% | 450 | -181 | $2,104 | $478,476,164 | 10 | Disney |
| 6 | Ice Age: Collision Course | $925,000 | -55% | 782 | -766 | $1,183 | $60,853,290 | 5 | Fox |
| 7 | Indignation | $553,100 | -27% | 317 | 50 | $1,745 | $2,370,504 | 4 | Roadside / Summit |
| 8 | Anthropoid | $546,792 | -56% | 441 | -11 | $1,240 | $2,331,328 | 2 | Bleecker Street |
| 9 | Cafe Society | $520,000 | -45% | 271 | -184 | $1,919 | $9,431,665 | 6 | Lionsgate / Amazon |
| 10 | Don’t Think Twice | $400,200 | 10% | 100 | 30 | $4,002 | $1,771,675 | 5 | The Film Arcade |
| 11 | The BFG | $300,000 | 9% | 207 | 14 | $1,449 | $53,804,481 | 8 | Disney / DreamWorks |
| 12 | Captain Fantastic | $230,338 | -34% | 153 | -22 | $1,505 | $4,684,593 | 7 | Bleecker Street |
| 13 | Hunt for the Wilderpeople | $163,800 | -27% | 125 | -15 | $1,310 | $4,175,757 | 9 | The Orchard |
| 14 | Independence Day: Resurgence | $155,000 | 4% | 156 | 0 | $994 | $102,789,580 | 9 | Fox |
| 15 | The Jungle Book (2016) | $137,000 | -27% | 152 | -34 | $901 | $363,229,023 | 19 | Disney |
| 16 | Hillary’s America – The Secret History of the Democratic Party | $117,000 | -64% | 140 | -187 | $836 | $12,335,817 | 6 | D’Souza EntertainmentQuality Flix |
| 17 | Now You See Me 2 | $115,000 | -6% | 126 | -25 | $913 | $65,038,129 | 11 | Lionsgate / Summit |
| 18 | Captain America: Civil War | $93,000 | -49% | 117 | -45 | $795 | $407,709,965 | 16 | Disney |
| # | TITLE | WEEKEND | LOCATIONS | AVG. | TOTAL | WKS. | DIST. | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Equity | $142,853 | 8% | 43 | 13 | $3,322 | $533,196 | 4 | Sony Pictures Classics |
| 2 | Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV | $114,000 | — | 24 | — | $4,750 | $114,000 | 1 | Sony Pictures Worldwide Acquisitions Inc. |
| 3 | Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows | $61,000 | -39% | 85 | -32 | $718 | $81,921,656 | 12 | Paramount |
| 4 | Absolutely Fabulous: The Movie | $58,000 | -52% | 52 | -39 | $1,115 | $4,584,919 | 5 | Fox Searchlight |
| 5 | A Tale of Love and Darkness | $36,000 | — | 2 | — | $18,000 | $36,000 | 1 | Focus World |
| 6 | Gleason | $34,858 | -74% | 56 | -92 | $622 | $545,420 | 4 | Open Road / Amazon |
| 7 | The People vs. Fritz Bauer | $33,781 | — | 6 | — | $5,630 | $33,781 | 1 | Cohen Media Group |
| 8 | Alice Through the Looking Glass | $25,000 | -52% | 44 | -42 | $568 | $77,022,594 | 13 | Disney |
| 9 | Love & Friendship | $16,800 | -31% | 18 | -5 | $933 | $13,966,925 | 15 | Roadside / Amazon |
| 10 | Morris from America | $16,000 | — | 2 | — | $8,000 | $16,000 | 1 | A24 |
| 11 | The Music of Strangers | $9,835 | -20% | 20 | -1 | $492 | $1,100,085 | 11 | |
| 12 | Life, Animated | $4,836 | -14% | 10 | -13 | $484 | $218,713 | 8 | The Orchard |
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