Suicide Squad Shoots Down August Record with $135 Million Opening
by Brad Brevet
August 7, 2016


For the third time this year a superhero movie has broken an opening weekend record and with it a continuing trend that finds the previous week's box office champion suffering a hefty second weekend drop.

This time around it's Warner Bros' Suicide Squad decimating the previous August opening weekend record by more than $40 million while Universal's Jason Bourne experiences a 62% drop in its sophomore session.



That said, with the top twelve totaling a massive $223.9 million, this weekend's top twelve was up a whopping 87% compared to the same weekend last year.

In fact, this is the first time this calendar weekend has ever grossed over $190 million, let alone cracked the $200 million mark.







Finishing in first place with an estimated $135.1 million, Warner Bros. and DC Comics' Suicide Squad now holds the largest August opening weekend, topping Guardians of the Galaxy's $94.3 million from 2014. The film also had the largest August opening day with $65.2 million, which included the largest August Thursday preview total of $20.5 million.

Combined with a $132 million international opening from 57 territories, the film's global opening haul ranks 24th all-time with $267.1 million, topping Deadpool's worldwide opening of $264.7 million earlier this year, which opened in 63 international markets.

Of the film's opening weekend haul, $11 million came from 382 IMAX screens, $13 million from Premium Large Format (PLF) screens and another $3.2 million from Extreme Digital (XD) theaters.







Finishing in second place, and dropping 61.6% after taking the top spot at last weekend's box office, Universal's Jason Bourne finished second with an estimated $22.7 million.

While the latest installment in the Bourne franchise had a strong opening, including an "A-" CinemaScore, it was obviously affected by the release of Suicide Squad.





Bad Moms dropped 40.4% for an estimated $14.2 million.

The cume for the $20 million feature has now climbed to $51 million domestically.







The weekend's other new wide release was EuropaCorp's Nine Lives, which featured Kevin Spacey as a talking cat. The family feature delivered an estimated $6.5 million from 2,264 theaters and may struggle next weekend as Pete's Dragon is likely to steal the majority of any remaining audience next weekend.

The film scored a "B+" CinemaScore and currently sports a dismal 4% rating on RottenTomatoes.







Elsewhere in the top ten, Warner Bros. and New Line's Lights Out has now crossed $54.7 million domestically and $85.7 million worldwide on a budget right around $5 million.

Additionally, Illumination Entertainment and Universal Pictures' The Secret Life of Pets took in another $11.5 million for a fourth place finish domestically and added another $68.6 million internationally as the film's global cume has now topped $500 million and stands at an impressive $502.2 million.

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=4214&p=.htm









August 5-7, 2016 Weekend Studio Estimates:


1. Suicide Squad $135,105,000
2. Jason Bourne $22,710,000 / $103,416,020
3. Bad Moms $14,204,000 / $51,050,830
4. The Secret Life of Pets $11,560,000 / $319,578,780
5. Star Trek Beyond $10,200,000 / $127,901,364
6. Nine Lives $6,500,000
7. Lights Out $6,005,000 / $54,714,252
8. Nerve $4,900,000 / $26,888,794
9. Ghostbusters $4,800,000 / $116,711,936
10. Ice Age: Collision Course $4,300,000 / $53,539,797

Suicide Squad Drops Big, But Remains #1 as Sausage Party Eats Up the Box Office
by Brad Brevet
August 14, 2016


Despite Suicide Squad's large, to-be-expected second weekend drop, the film pulled in more than enough to hold off all newcomers for a second weekend at number one at the box office as it now totals more than $465 million worldwide.

Meanwhile, Sony's R-rated animated comedy Sausage Party scored a strong second place finish, ahead of fellow new releases including Disney's reboot of Pete's Dragon and Paramount's release of Florence Foster Jenkins.

Overall the top twelve totaled $157.8 million, up 16% from last year.







At the top of the chart, Suicide Squad dropped 67.3% for an estimated $43.7 million, almost spot on what we were expecting after its opening weekend seven days ago.

The film's domestic cume is now up to $222.8 million while it added another $58.7 million in its second weekend internationally, bringing its global cume to $465.3 million after 12 days in worldwide release.

Suicide Squad ranks eleventh worldwide among all 2016 releases and seventh among live action releases.







In second place Sony's Sausage Party delivered a solid $33.6 million opening (including $3.25m from Thursday night) from 3,103 theaters.

Despite the low studio expectations, the film's opening weekend shouldn't come as too much of a surprise as it is right in line with Ted 2's $33.5 million opening last year, which went on to gross just another of $81 million. The glaring difference between the two films, however, is the $68 million budget for Ted 2 while the reported budget for Sausage Party is only $19 million.







Finishing third is Disney's Pete's Dragon, a remake of the 1977 classic that also played well with critics but it wasn't able to overwhelm at the box office.

Scoring an estimated $21.5 million from 3,702 theaters, the film's performance is reminiscent of Disney's July release The BFG, which also carried strong reviews into the weekend only to deliver $18.7 million in its first three days.







The weekend's final new wide release is Paramount's Florence Foster Jenkins starring Meryl Streep, which debuted with an estimated $6.58 million from 1,528 theaters.

This almost lines up exactly with Streep's Ricki and the Flash, which debuted in early August last year with $6.6 million from 1,603 theaters before going on to gross $26.8 million.

The film scored an "A-" CinemaScore (much better than Ricki's "B") and played to an audience that was 61% female vs 39% male and a whopping 97% of the audience was over the age of 25.







Elsewhere in the top ten Jason Bourne dropped only 39.2% in its third weekend after that hefty 62% sophomore dip as its cume is now up to $126.7 million.

More impressive, however, is Bad Moms, which only dropped 18.2% in its third weekend as the R-rated comedy is now up to an impressive $71.4 million domestically on a $20 million budget.







Among the weekend's limited releases, Bleecker Street's Anthropoid brought in an estimated $1.2 million from 452 theaters while Lionsgate's Hell or High Water brought in an estimated $592,000 from 32 theaters for a $18,500 per theater average, the best of the weekend.

Other limited releases include 26 Aries' The Lost Arcade, which debuted with an estimated $7,500 from one theater; IFC's Disorder opened with an estimated $12,000 from two theaters; and The Orchard's Ghost Team was hardly a blip on the spectrometer, opening with a mere $9,205 from ten theaters, for a $921 per theater average.

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=4215&p=.htm









August 12-14, 2016 Weekend Studio Estimates:


1. Suicide Squad $43,770,000 / $222,874,728
2. Sausage Party $33,600,000
3. Pete's Dragon $21,501,000
4. Jason Bourne $13,620,000 / $126,782,345
5. Bad Moms $11,450,000 / $71,461,293
6. The Secret Life of Pets $8,840,000 / $335,942,075
7. Star Trek Beyond $6,800,000 / $139,679,949
8. Florence Foster Jenkins $6,580,000
9. Nine Lives $3,500,000 / $13,550,825
10. Lights Out $3,220,000 / $61,134,818

Suicide Squad Threepeats at #1, While Ben-Hur Becomes Latest Big Budget Flop
by Brad Brevet
August 21, 2016


It's a repeat at the top of the domestic box office as Suicide Squad and Sausage Party finished one and two respectively for a second weekend in a row and serving as the third straight weekend at number one for the DC Comics adaptation.

The rest of the top five is made up of the weekend's three new wide releases—War Dogs, Kubo and the Two Strings and Ben-Hur—as this weekend's top twelve was down 25% from last weekend, though, compared to last year, the top twelve is up nearly 30% with a combined gross of just over $118 million.







As already mentioned, with an estimated $20.7 million Suicide Squad took the number one spot at the weekend box office. The film's domestic cume is now up to $262.28 million, ranking fifth among all DC Comics adaptations.

Internationally the film added another $38 million this weekend bringing its international total to $310.4 million for a worldwide cume totaling $572.68 million, ranking eighth among all 2016 releases.







In second, Sony's R-rated animated feature Sausage Party dropped 55% and delivered an estimated $15.3 million in its second weekend, bringing its domestic cume to $65.3 million.

The film added another $2.1 million internationally this weekend from just 13 markets as its worldwide cume currently stands at $71.3 million on a $19 million budget.







Leading the weekend's newcomers, Warner's War Dogs finished third with an estimated $14.3 million and earned a lackluster "B" CinemaScore from opening day audiences suggesting this one might top out around $35 million or so domestically.

The audience breakdown was 56% male vs. 44% female with 51% of the overall audience coming in under the age of 35.







Finishing fourth with an estimated $12.6 million is Focus and Laika's Kubo and the Two Strings, which also received a strong, "A" CinemaScore from opening day audiences.

While Laika is pretty much always guaranteed an Oscar nomination at the end of the year, this is the lowest wide opening release for any of the studio's five feature films, which have shown dwindling multipliers over the course of their last three releases.



While 2009's Coraline opened with $16.8 million and went on to deliver a 4.5 multiplier, finishing its domestic run with $75.2 million, 2014's The Boxtrolls opened with $17.27 million, but only finished with just over $50 million. Should Kubo follow The Boxtrolls' path it would mean a domestic haul somewhere around $37 million.

Kubo also opened in eight international territories this weekend, bringing in an estimated $900,000. The film releases around the world over the next few months.







Narrowly finishing in fifth place, Paramount and MGM's $100 million budgeted remake Ben-Hur proved a box office bust, delivering an estimated $11.35 million. While being savaged by the majority of critics the film did score an "A-" CinemaScore with opening day audiences, though an opening number that small is unlikely to translate into any kind of long legs.

The film's opening weekend demographic was 51% female vs. 49% male with 94% of the overall audience coming in over the age of 25.







Finishing just $19,000 behind Ben-Hur in sixth position is Disney's Pete's Dragon, which dropped 47.3% in its second weekend for an estimated $11.3 million.

We'll have to wait until actuals surface tomorrow afternoon to see if Ben-Hur can hold on to its narrow lead or if it will end up falling out of the weekend top five.







In seventh is another strong weekend for STX's Bad Moms, which followed up its stellar third weekend in which it dropped a mere 19% with a fourth weekend drop of only 29%.

The R-rated comedy delivered an estimated $8 million this weekend as its domestic cume is now up to $85.8 million, pushing toward $100 million and a 4x multiplier.







Finishing just outside the top ten is the strong performance of CBS Films and Lionsgate's Hell or High Water. After opening in 32 theaters last weekend the film has made use of spectacular reviews (98% on RottenTomatoes) and expanded into 472 total theaters this weekend where it generated an estimated $2.65 million.

The film will continue expanding into new markets in the weeks ahead, though no official theater counts have yet been revealed.







Elsewhere, New Line's Lights Out added $1.6 million domestically this weekend and another $7.3 million internationally as the James Wan-produced thriller has now generated over $110 million worldwide on a $4.9 million budget.

Among the film's international weekend it debuted in the UK with $1.4 million, Spain with $1.1 million and in Brazil with $793k.







In limited release, Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV debuted in 24 theaters and delivered an estimated $114,000; Natalie Portman's A Tale of Love and Darkness brought in $36,000 from two theaters; The People vs. Fritz Bauer delivered $33,781 from six theaters.

After 30 days on DirecTV, A24's Morris from America brought in an estimated $16,000 from two theaters.

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=4212&p=.htm









August 19-21, 2016 Weekend Studio Estimates:


1. Suicide Squad $20,710,000 / $262,283,335
2. Sausage Party $15,325,000 / $65,326,019
3. War Dogs $14,300,000
4. Kubo and the Two Strings $12,610,000
5. Ben-Hur $11,350,000
6. Pete's Dragon $11,331,000 / $42,892,269
7. Bad Moms $8,068,000 / $85,800,428
8. Jason Bourne $7,980,000 / $140,883,285
9. The Secret Life of Pets $5,770,000 / $346,722,030
10. Florence Foster Jenkins $4,300,000 / $14,405,743