Weekend Wrap-Up: Squad, Sausage Top Dogs, Strings as Summer Ends

August 23, 2016

Sausage Party

Well, summer is over, that much is obvious from the weekend results. The “best” new release of the weekend was War Dogs and it earned less than $15 million earning just third place. The worst new release, Ben-Hur, didn’t even reach the top five. The overall box office fell 23% to $132 million. However, this is still 24% more than this weekend last year. The year-over-year gain is impressive, but not surprising, as the worst new release this year still opened better than the best new release from last year, Sinister 2. This helped 2016’s year-over-year lead grow to 5.6% or $400 million at $7.64 billion to $7.24 billion.

Suicide Squad fell 52% to $20.86 million over the weekend for a three-week total of $262.43 million. Its theater average was over $5,000, which is better than any of the new wide releases. This is important, as it makes it less likely that theater owners will drop the film over the coming weeks and that makes getting to $300 million more likely.

Sausage Party remained in second place with $15.49 million over the weekend for a ten-day total of $65.49 million. Given this result, the film has a shot at $100 million in the end. Maybe they can use some of the profits to pay the mistreated animators.

War Dogs had the biggest opening of the three wide releases, but it only managed third place with $14.69 million, which is fine for this time of year. Like its box office opening, its reviews are good for this time of year at 59% positive. The film cost $50 million to make and it won’t match that domestically. It will need good international numbers to break even any time soon.

Kubo and the Two Strings struggled with an opening of just $12.61 million over the weekend. It remains one of the best reviewed wide releases of the summer, but it would take a minor miracle for the film to break even given this start. Stop-motion animation remains a niche market that costs more than the box office can justify.

Pete’s Dragon managed to remain in the top five with $11.35 million over the weekend for a two-week total of $42.91 million. At this pace, the film will match its $65 million production budget domestically, meaning it would only need a 40/60 domestic / international split to break even. Sadly, its international numbers are much weaker than its domestic numbers. It could still break even, but only if it is a surprise hit on the home market.

Ben-Hur doesn’t even have that faint hope after an $11.20 million opening weekend. Its reviews are terrible and it likely won’t last in theaters very long. This could be the last Bible Epic we see for a number of years.

Florence Foster Jenkins was the only sophomore class film not in the top five and it barely made the top ten with $4.38 million over the weekend for a two-week total of $14.49 million. It should last in theaters long enough to get to $25 million, while it will hit the home market right when Awards Season hype is at its peak and that could help it break even.

- Weekend Box Office Results

- War Dogs Comparisons
- Kubo and the Two Strings Comparisons
- Ben-Hur Comparisons