Weekend Box Office: Only Half Dead

Although last week’s big winner managed to retain the top spot at the box office this weekend, it took a massive hit, just as its franchise partner did earlier this year. Sony’s new R-rated animated comedy nearly doubled expectations, while the latest movies from both Disney and Meryl Streep underwhelmed.

If the reports are true and Warner Bros. heavily altered ‘Suicide Squad‘ in a panic when ‘Batman v. Superman’ underperformed expectations, then how much do you think those same studio execs are freaking out now that ‘Suicide Squad’ is performing nearly identically?

Despite brutal reviews and very negative pre-release buzz, DC’s supervillain ensemble opened to an impressive $133.6 million last weekend. While it may have been able to overcome the bad publicity for one week, it couldn’t stay strong for the second. The film dropped 67% (compared to 69% for ‘BvS’ in its second weekend), but was able to hold onto first place with $43.7 million. The $175 million picture now sits with a domestic ten-day total of $222.8 million and an international total of $242.5 million. $465.3 million worldwide is great for ten days, but just like the overall draw for ‘Batman v. Superman’, it’s not going to reach the heights that Warner Bros. initially hoped.

Speaking of expectations, Sony predicted that Seth Rogen’s ‘Sausage Party‘ would open in the teens, but the crude CG animated comedy managed to pull $33.6 million ($3.2 million of which came from Thursday night showings). Produced on a reported budget of $19 million, this is a huge win for Sony, the studio which has floundered over the last year. Even if it tanks in the coming weeks, ‘Sausage Party’ is already a success.

Disney, on the other hand, had the exact opposite happen. The studio’s remake of ‘Pete’s Dragon‘ opened in third place with $21.5 million. Strong critical response wasn’t enough to get parents who remember the 1977 original to take their kids to see the new 3D rendition. It grossed $5.1 million from a dozen international markets, but will need to play much stronger as it expands if it’s going to turn a profit. Fortunately, Disney has a couple billion-dollar winners this year that will easily compensate if ‘Pete’ ends up being a failure.

‘Suicide Squad’ caused ‘Jason Bourne‘ to crash an unexpected 62% last week, but the Matt Damon sequel’s third week fell back in line with how it was expected to do all along. Finishing in fourth place, the fifth ‘Bourne’ entry slipped 39% in attendance and earned $13.6 million. The movie’s domestic total now sits at $126.7 million, while the international total is at $119.4 million. That $246.1 million worldwide total is decent, but just like Warner’s response to the ‘BvS’ and ‘Suicide Squad’ numbers, Universal definitely expected much more.

Three-week-old ‘Bad Moms‘ rounded out the Top 5. Dropping only 18% week-over-week, it added another $11.4 million to its domestic total. The $20 million R-rated comedy has a 17-day total of $71.4 million. It’s also made $13.6 million overseas, giving it a worldwide total of $85 million. That’s pretty great for STX, a relatively new and small studio.

For the third consecutive time, a Meryl Streep film had a very mediocre opening. ‘Florence Foster Jenkins‘ debuted on 1,528 screens, but only managed to collect $6.5 million and land in the #8 spot. Produced on a $19 million budget, it will have some ground to make up when it starts its international release.

Bleecker Street released the WWII assassination drama ‘Anthropoid‘ on 452 screens. While the film itself looks interesting, it couldn’t crack the Top 10. Finishing in 15th place, it pulled $1.2 million and a lackluster per-screen average of $2,684.

Opening in limited release one week ahead of its wide(ish) rollout, ‘Hell or High Water‘ saw solid returns from 32 screens. The $592,000 earned resulted in an $18,500 per-screen average that Lionsgate certainly wants to see continue.

Top 10:

1. ‘Suicide Squad’ (Warner Bros.) – $43,770,000

2. ‘Sausage Party’ (Sony) – $33,600,000

3. ‘Pete’s Dragon’ (Buena Vista) – $21,501,000

4. ‘Jason Bourne’ (Universal) – $13,620,000

5. ‘Bad Moms’ (STX) – $11,450,000

6. ‘The Secret Life of Pets’ (Universal) – $8,840,000

7. ‘Star Trek Beyond’ (Paramount) – $6,800,000

8. ‘Florence Foster Jenkins’ (Paramount) – $6,580,000

9. ‘Nine Lives’ (EuropaCorp) – $3,500,000

10. ‘Lights Out’ (Warner Bros.) – $3,220,000

4 comments

  1. Clark

    “(Florence Foster Jenkins) will have some ground to make up when it starts its international release.”
    Well, it was already released in the UK and here in Brazil… I don’t know if it was a big success or not, but all showings were sold out here in Rio during its first week.

  2. William Henley

    REALLY surprised Pete’s Dragon didn’t perform better, with it being the last Family Flick of the summer. However, most of the people I have talked to either loved or hated the old movie, and don’t even want to give this one a chance. On the other hand, this movie has had VERY positive reviews, had an 86% on Rotten Tomatoes when I looked yesterday, and a rival Blu-Ray review site gave the movie 10/10. The weekday draw may be really good, and it may end up having really numbers next week due to word of mouth. Disney should have a win on this one, this movie was excellent.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *