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Box office report: “Ben-Hur” suffers while “Suicide Squad” leads

Posted in: Box Office Report  |  By: John Hanlon  |  August 22nd, 2016
Ben-Hur Box Office War Dogs

Three new movies arrived in theaters nationwide this weekend (including the expensive Ben-Hur) reboot but none of them could depose Suicide Squad from the top of the pack.

In its third weekend of release, more about Suicide Squad remained in the top spot. The Ben-Hur box office numbers were particularly disappointing considering that the film cost approximately 100 million dollars. War Dogs and Kubo and the Two Strings, the other two releases, did a little bit better but neither of them could remove Suicide Squad from the top of the list.

Coming in slightly below at the box office this weekend was Sausage Party, the raunchy animated R-rated comedy. The three new releases came in the 3rd, 4th and 5th positions with Ben-Hur coming in the last spot there, despite the film rebooting the well-known story.

Here are the estimated weekend grosses of the top five films over the long weekend (according to BoxofficeMojo.com):

1. Suicide Squad— $20.7 million
2. Sausage Party — $15.3 million
3. War Dogs— $14.3 million
4. Kubo and the Two Strings— $12.6 million
5. Ben-Hur — $11.4 million

With that in mind, let’s take a look at the big winners and losers at the box office.

Loser: Ben-Hur

The latest reboot of the well-known religious drama came in at a distant 5th at the box office. Considering its reported price tag of 100 million dollars, that’s definitely a disappointment for Paramount, the studio that released it. Starring Jack Huston, Toby Kebbell and Morgan Freeman, the movie had faced some tough reviews and a lack of great buzz.

That being said, the film could earn back more money in the international market, where it’s expected to do well. It would need to do extremely well to earn back its production costs though.

Winner: War Games

The shocking comedy about two men in their twenties who became weapons dealers did quite well in its opening weekend. Directed by Todd Phillips (who previously directed the Hangover trilogy), the film stars Miles Teller and Jonah Hill as pot smokers who stumble their way into a multi-million dollar contract with the U.S. government.

The film earned mixed reviews but earned over 13 million in its opening weekend, a solid number considering its competition.

 Loser: Kubo and the Two Strings

This new animated feature is one of the most highly-acclaimed films of the year. With an amazing 96 positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes, the movie found love with critics but only came in at number 4 at the box office.

With a reported budget of 60 million, the feature needs to do some solid business overseas (or have long legs domestically) to make a profit.

Winner: Bad Moms

One of the biggest winners this summer is the low-budgeted Bad Moms, which stars Mila Kunis, Kristen Bell and Kathryn Hahn. In its fourth weekend of release, the feature earned over million dollars meaning that the film dropped less than 30% from last weekend.

That’s particularly impressive considering that the film cost approximately 20 million and has already earned more than 85 million domestically.

 

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