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[xaosslug]

tomatometer:

26% Suicide Squad

82% Sausage Party

58% War Dogs

96% Kubo and the Two Strings

29% Ben-Hur (2016)

metacritic:

*click pic(s) for source*

‘Ben-Hur’ Flops With $11.4 Million, ‘Suicide Squad’ Still on Top

“Ben-Hur” derailed spectacularly at the multiplexes, as the latest attempt to revive the chariot racing epic opened to an anemic $11.4 million. That’s a disastrous result for the $100 million production, putting “Ben-Hur” in the ranks of the summer’s biggest flops.

Metro-Goldwyn-Meyer and Paramount co-produced the remake of Lew Wallace’s novel “Ben-Hur: A Tale of the Christ”; the book was the basis for the 1959 blockbuster that followed Charlton Heston into the arena. Here Jack Huston took the reins as a Jewish prince who must exact his revenge after his adopted brother (Toby Kebbell) betrays him.

“This is the bomb of the summer,” said Jeff Bock, a box office analyst with Exhibitor Relations. “They went big and they went home.”

Although MGM put up more of the money for the film, its failure will be felt at Paramount. The studio has had a bad streak at the box office, fielding duds such as “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows” and “Zoolander 2,” while its parent company Viacom has been engulfed in an epic corporate struggle pitting CEO Philippe Dauman over the Redstone family, its controlling stake holders. That issue, at least, has been resolved, as Viacom announced this weekend that Dauman was stepping down from atop the media company and will be replaced on an interim basis by COO Thomas Dooley.

“Ben-Hur’s” backers aggressively courted the Christian community, doing outreach to pastors and holding taste-maker screenings for religious leaders. The studios also hoped that producers Mark Burnett and Roma Downey, who earned devout points with “Son of God” and the mini-series “The Bible,” would help them turn out values audiences. Instead, “Ben-Hur” trailed the $47 million debut of “Noah” and the $24 million launch of “Exodus: Gods and Kings,” two recent Biblical epics that lacked a heavenly touch.

With “Ben-Hur” faltering, “Suicide Squad” managed to snag first place for the third consecutive weekend. The story of a band of super villains netted $20.7 million, pushing its domestic total to $262.3 million. Not adjusted for inflation, the film is the second-highest grossing stateside release of Will Smith’s career, behind “Independence Day’s” $306.2 million haul.

The weekend also marked the launch of “War Dogs,” an off-beat comedy about weapons dealers, picked up $14.3 million. Warner Bros. backed the project, partly as a show of appreciation for the money director Todd Phillips minted from the “Hangover” trilogy. It cost north of $45 million to produce, and teams Jonah Hill and Miles Teller, who were tapped to star in roles originally intended for Shia LaBeouf and Jesse Eisenberg. Ticket buyers were 56% male and 51% under the age of 35.

With “Ben-Hur” making a bid for religious crowds and “War Dogs” trying to grab adults, Focus Features went after family audiences. The indie label debuted “Kubo and the Two Strings,” an animated story about a boy and a monkey who try to find a magical suit of armor in Ancient Japan. It’s the latest offering from Laika, the makers of “ParaNorman” and “The Boxtrolls.” The film cost between $55 million to $60 million, and brought in $12.6 million in its first weekend for a fourth place finish.

In its second weekend, Sony’s “Sausage Party” held strong, taking in $15.3 million, a drop of 55% from its debut. That was good enough for runner-up status on the box office charts and pushes the foul-mouthed animated comedy’s domestic haul to $65.3 million.

Disney’s “Pete’s Dragon” is currently neck-in-neck with “Ben-Hur” for fifth place. The remake of the 1977 children’s film earned $11.3 million, bringing its stateside total to $42.9 million after two weeks of release.

More to come…

*click pic for full list/source*


*click pic for full list/source*

 

[kswiston]

Worldwide Updates

Suicide Squad - $573M
The Secret Life of Pets -$675M
Finding Dory - $915M
The Jungle Book - $956M
Ice Age: Collision Course - $315M
Jason Bourne - $279M
Lights Out - $110M

 

[black070]

Who comes up with these titles and why ?

 

[ElectricBlanketFire]

“They went big and they went home.”

 

[ezekial45]

Kubo deserved better. Man....

 

[Shao Kahn Brewing a Stew]

I heard Sausage Party is worth it for the ending. They must be happy knowing the budget.

 

[Pendas]

I heard Sausage Party is worth it for the ending. They must be happy knowing the budget.

It's easy to keep a low budget when you don't pay your workers.

 

[alfredofroylan]

Kubo deserved more, and pretty much confirmed that GB won't make his budget back on the USA box office.

 

[A Human Becoming]

I heard Sausage Party is worth it for the ending. They must be happy knowing the budget.

Reports are that budget came at the cost of the animators well-being.

 

[gamz]

BoxOffice ‏@BoxOffice 19m19 minutes ago
SUICIDE SQUAD makes an estimated $38.0M overseas weekend, down 35.3%, for a $310.4M overseas / $572.6m global total. #SuicideSquad

 

[Ra\/en]

Who thought audiences would demand/see an updated Ben-Hur? Leave the 1959 version alone.

 

[jack_package_200]

Shame that so many people continue seeing garbage like Suicide Squad

Kubo deserved better. Man....

Yeah

Hopefully it does better internationally. Laika deserves much more success.

It's easy to keep a low budget when you don't pay your workers.

Also this. Fuck that studio.

 

[shira]

WB like, hey even if the movie is awful people still pay to see it.

 

[JB1981]

The Secret Life of fucking PETS has made 675 million WW? The fuck?

 

[heliosRAzi]

Who thought audiences would demand an updated Ben-Hur? Leave the original alone.

That's why I don't like the 1959 version. Leave the original alone.

Damn it, you edited it.

 

[Calm waterfall]

Ben Hur cost a 100 million to produce. Some distributors can´t sense the market at all. Although i do appreciate that they are making movies about sword fights. I want a distributor/studio to do a large sword battles.

 

[black070]

The top 4 grossing movies of 2016 are all Disney releases.

1. Captain America: Civil War
2 Zootopia
3 The Jungle Book
4 Finding Dory

Great year for them, BFG aside.

 

[Ra\/en]

That's why I don't like the 1959 version. Leave the original alone.

Damn it, you edited it.

Haha. I know, I realized it right after I posted it. You are very right though.

 

[kswiston]

The Secret Life of fucking PETS has made 675 million WW? The fuck?

Coming off a $50M global weekend as well. With a few openings left to go, it will probably hit $850-900M.

 

[Dash_Riprock]

I guess this proves once and for all that there's no place for biblical epics in the 21st century?

Still for the life of me can't rationalize why Passion was so successful. Must be the latent sadism in everyone.

 

[jack_package_200]

The Secret Life of fucking PETS has made 675 million WW? The fuck?

Illumination Studios. The kings of successful lowest common denominator kids films.

Get ready for Sing later this year.

 

[kswiston]

I guess this proves once and for all that there's no place for biblical epics in the 21st century?

Still for the life of me can't rationalize why Passion was so successful. Must be the latent sadism in everyone.

Christain groups treated it like it was their religious duty to watch Jesus get beat.

 

[heliosRAzi]

Haha. I know, I realized it right after I posted it. You are very right though.

I was ready for the GOTCHA! moment.

I guess this proves once and for all that there's no place for biblical epics in the 21st century?

Still for the life of me can't rationalize why Passion was so successful. Must be the latent sadism in everyone.

Passion satisfies both our lust for violence and Jesus.

 

[Sorcerer]

The top 4 grossing movies of 2016 are all Disney releases.

1. Captain America: Civil War
2 Zootopia
3 The Jungle Book
4 Finding Dory

Great year for them, BFG aside.

don't forget to add, Pete and Alice to the failure list, not that it matters.

Too much kids stuff at once. This was just Disney.

 

[A Human Becoming]

Illumination Studios. The kings of successful lowest common denominator kids films.

Nearly half the average cost of a Pixar movie:

STUDIO AVERAGE BUDGET
Disney’s Pixar $136.8m
Walt Disney Animation Studios 117.8m
DreamWorks Animation 113.4m
Blue Sky Studios 92.7m
Sony Pictures Animation 87.6m
Illumination Entertainment 70.8m
Laika 52.5m
Overall 114.3m
Average budget for an animated film in 2016 dollars, since 1991.

 

[Cake Boss]

 

[Saucycarpdog]

I was rooting for you Kubo. :'(

 

[Penguin]

Probably was too tiny a release, but any word on kingslaive box office?

 

[kswiston]

Nearly half the average cost of a Pixar movie:

STUDIO AVERAGE BUDGET
Disney’s Pixar $136.8m
Walt Disney Animation Studios 117.8m
DreamWorks Animation 113.4m
Blue Sky Studios 92.7m
Sony Pictures Animation 87.6m
Illumination Entertainment 70.8m
Laika 52.5m
Overall 114.3m
Average budget for an animated film in 2016 dollars, since 1991.

What's getting included under the Disney Animation banner? All of their CG animated film since Tangled have been $150M+

 

[Epcott]

*cringe at that title*

I had a feeling Kubo would struggle I love that studio.
I guess I'm part of the problem... I planned to see Kubo with friends and eventually voted Sausage Party instead.

 

[gamz]

Probably was too tiny a release, but any word on kingslaive box office?

Edit: NM read it wrong.

 

[yuraya]

3rd week in a row on top for SS.

Not even BvS or CW were able to do that

Slipknot > Batman > Spiderman

 

[kswiston]

Probably was too tiny a release, but any word on kingslaive box office?

$114k from 24 locations

 

[gamz]

3rd week in a row on top for SS.

Not even BvS or CW were able to do that

Slipknot > Batman > Spiderman

With zero competition.

 

[Bladenic]

Kingslaive made shit too. 114k at 24 theaters, 4700 something average.

 

[El Topo]

Over 3000 theaters. That's a wide release.

24 theaters for Kingsglaive. Still a bad result.

 

[VeryGooster]

I finally saw Star Trek Beyond and wished it did better.

 

[JB1981]

I guess this proves once and for all that there's no place for biblical epics in the 21st century?

Still for the life of me can't rationalize why Passion was so successful. Must be the latent sadism in everyone.

American evangelicals, Gibson, controversy, right-wing media support.

 

[Slayven]

The top 4 grossing movies of 2016 are all Disney releases.

1. Captain America: Civil War
2 Zootopia
3 The Jungle Book
4 Finding Dory

Great year for them, BFG aside.

How long before Disney starts cutting releases to stop cannibalizing itself?

 

[gamz]

24 theaters for Kingsglaive. Still a bad result.

Yeah, I thought he was talking Kubo. nm.

 

[Sou Da]

Thank God Laika is funded by Nike money.

 

[Sorcerer]

American evangelicals, Gibson, controversy, right-wing media support.

Ben Hur would have done better around Easter. There was that Jesus movie a few years ago that was already released on tv that cleaned up at the theater. Timing is everything.

 

[jack_package_200]

How long before Disney starts cutting releases to stop cannibalizing itself?

This is a good point.

Alice and Pete's Dragon and BFG all came out during the same season.

 

[Jason's Ultimatum]

Well at least Bourne is profitable.

 

[kswiston]

How long before Disney starts cutting releases to stop cannibalizing itself?

They already release/distribute the fewest films out of the major studios.

 

[GhaleonEB]

I feel pretty bad for Laika. That looks like their worst opening so far.

 

[FTF]

The top 4 grossing movies of 2016 are all Disney releases.

1. Captain America: Civil War
2 Zootopia
3 The Jungle Book
4 Finding Dory

Great year for them, BFG aside.

Soon to be top 5.

 

[WaffleTaco]

Ben Hur cost a 100 million to produce. Some distributors can´t sense the market at all. Although i do appreciate that they are making movies about sword fights. I want a distributor/studio to do a large sword battles.

You best bet at that is watching Game of Thrones lol

 

[Alrus]

Those new openings are all dreadful.

Suicide Squad might just break 300M dom in the end, "massive flop" indeed. Overseas performance is a bit meh but missing China didn't help in that regard.

Also I keep thinking Ben-Hur is a Sony movie because remaking an old property that nobody cares about anymore with a big budget is such a Sony move. Poor Paramount.

 

[Slayven]

They already release/distribute the fewest films out of the major studios.

even counting their sub studios?