{"id":79560,"date":"2016-08-22T09:00:07","date_gmt":"2016-08-22T16:00:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.highdefdigest.com\/blog\/?p=79560"},"modified":"2016-08-21T18:48:36","modified_gmt":"2016-08-22T01:48:36","slug":"box-office-aug-22-2016","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.highdefdigest.com\/blog\/box-office-aug-22-2016\/","title":{"rendered":"Weekend Box Office: Financial Suicide"},"content":{"rendered":"

This weekend resulted in no change for the top two movies at the box office. Three new releases had to duke it out for the slots that followed. Two of them saw so-so returns, while the third just might end up being the biggest flop of 2016. Yes, an even bigger loss than the ‘Ghostbusters’ remake.
\n<\/p>\n

For the third consecutive week, ‘Suicide Squad<\/strong>‘ reigned at the top of the chart. While last week’s massive decline in attendance was brutal, this week’s was average. Dipping 52% week-over-week, DC’s $175 million villain’s tale closed the weekend with $20.7 million. To date, it has grossed $262.2 million domestically and $310.4 million overseas. The $572.6 million worldwide total makes the movie bankable \u2013 in fact, likely more profitable than ‘Batman v. Superman’ \u2013 so maybe Warner Bros. won’t give us disappointed fans an Ultimate Cut Blu-ray after all. If the theatrical release is already a success, what’s the point in funneling even more money into it?<\/p>\n

‘Sausage Party<\/strong>‘ also managed to retain its #2 spot by wrangling in another $15.3 million. The 55% second-week decline is a bit steeper than most other R-rated comedies. Perhaps that’s due to its niche approach, or perhaps that’s due to the negative press the movie received last week<\/a> when allegations were made about the filmmakers running the animation studio like a sweatshop. If that’s the case, it would explain how the feature-length CG-animated movie could be produced on a $19 million budget. After ten days, the film has earned $65.3 million domestically and $6 million overseas, for a worldwide total of $71.3 million.<\/p>\n

Jonah Hill and Miles Teller’s arms dealing drama ‘War Dogs<\/strong>‘ opened in third place. From 3,258 screens, it pulled $14.3 million. In addition, it drew $6.5 million from 41 overseas markets, putting its worldwide debut total at $20.8 million. That wouldn’t be too bad if it wasn’t for the film’s $40 million price tag. At this point, it needs an Oscar nomination to boost it to bankability.<\/p>\n

Although Laika’s stop-motion animated films have only gotten better with each round, their domestic opening weekend totals continue to dip with each release. That’s unfortunate, especially in the case of ‘Kubo and the Two Strings<\/strong>‘. The wildly imaginative and entertaining family flick earned $12.6 million in North America. From eight international territories, it made $900,000, giving it a $13.5 million worldwide debut. Fortunately, the studio’s films have gained more traction overseas with each new production. If that trends hold up, ‘Kubo’ will end its theatrical run near $100 million \u2013 which isn’t great for the $60 million picture. For the sake of getting more Laika films in the future, I beg you to get out there to see it.<\/p>\n

Barely rounding out the Top 5 (for now) was ‘Ben-Hur<\/strong>‘, Paramount’s remake of the 1959 classic. The $100 million dud brought in a mere $11.3 million from more than 3,000 locations. Internationally, it collected $10.7 million from 23 markets. The $22 million global kick-off for the pricy picture signals that the remake might end up with the biggest studio loss for the year. The weekend estimates put ‘Ben-Hur’ in fifth place with just $19,000 more than ‘Pete’s Dragon’. When the box office actuals are announced later today, the two may flop-flop, placing ‘Ben-Hur’ in the #6 spot.<\/p>\n

Lionsgate and CBS Films’ expansion of ‘Hell or High Water<\/strong>‘ proved a success. With rave reviews and great word-of-mouth, it earned $2.6 million when it expanded to 472 locations. The distributors are so pleased that they’ve announced further expansions in the coming weeks. Its ten-day total sits at $3.5 million.<\/p>\n

Debut numbers have yet to be announced for Werner Herzog’s ‘Lo and Behold: Reveries of the Connected World’.<\/p>\n

Top 10:<\/h2>\n

1. ‘Suicide Squad’ (Warner Bros.) – $20,710,000<\/p>\n

2. ‘Sausage Party’ (Sony) – $15,325,000<\/p>\n

3. ‘War Dogs’ (Warner Bros.) – $14,300,000<\/p>\n

4. ‘Kubo and the Two Strings’ (Focus) – $12,610,000<\/p>\n

5. ‘Ben-Hur’ (Paramount) – $11,350,000<\/p>\n

6. ‘Pete’s Dragon’ (Buena Vista) – $11,331,000<\/p>\n

7. ‘Bad Moms’ (STX) – $8,068,000<\/p>\n

8. ‘Jason Bourne’ (Universal) – $7,980,000<\/p>\n

9. ‘The Secret Life of Pets’ (Universal) – $5,770,000<\/p>\n

10. ‘Florence Foster Jenkins’ (Paramount) – $4,300,000<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This weekend resulted in no change for the top two movies at the box office. Three new releases had to duke it out for the slots that followed. Two of them saw so-so returns, while the third just might end up being the biggest flop of 2016. Yes, an even bigger loss than the ‘Ghostbusters’…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":79561,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[743],"tags":[385,178,9039,8807,8806,8291,9052],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.highdefdigest.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79560"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.highdefdigest.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.highdefdigest.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.highdefdigest.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.highdefdigest.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=79560"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.highdefdigest.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79560\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":79644,"href":"https:\/\/www.highdefdigest.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79560\/revisions\/79644"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.highdefdigest.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/79561"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.highdefdigest.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=79560"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.highdefdigest.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=79560"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.highdefdigest.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=79560"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}