The Weekend Report

Suicide Squad took a sharp second weekend hit, but nonetheless led the current session with an estimated $43.9 million. Two national newcomers followed, the ribald frank Sausage Party with $33.4 million and family adventure Pete’s Dragon that didn’t breathe fire with its $21.5 million box office. Also bowing in medium-wide release was the upscale bio-oddity Florence Foster Jenkins with solid but not SRO results of $6.5 million.

In limited wide release, Second World War verity Anthropoid had mixed results of $1.2 million. Exclusive newcomers were dominated by the contemporary western trackdown Hell or High Water with a bang-up $590,000 from 32 playdates.

In the niches. a pair of Hindi films received good starts. Mohenjo Daro grossed $718,000 while Rustom tallied $711,000. Also good was Telugu Babu Bangaram with $263,000. South Korean War saga Operation Chromite expanded to a $266,000 box office and the Chinese remake of My Best Friend’s Wedding bowed to $42,300 from 36 bowers.

Revenues for the frame generated better than $170 million and took a 26% slide from the prior weekend. It was 16% improved from 2015 when Straight Outta Compton opened to $60.2 million and the debut of The Man from U.N.C.L.E. had a disappointing $13.4 million.

The prospects of a “naughty” animated movie had pundits punditting widely divergent opinions and Sausage Party wound up somewhere in the middle of the ballpark commercially. A big question mark remains on whether the core audience scarfed it down or will order new Franks in coming weeks. Studio exit demos identified the opening crowd as 570% male with a 50/50 split for over/under 25-year olds.

More inspiration than remake, Pete’s Dragon has to rank among Disney’s best critically received family films of the past decade. Still, it fell short of studio expectations though strong word-of-mouth holds out the prospect of a strong multiple going forward. Its audience was 53% female with 66% identified as families with 54% aged 25-years and younger.

Pete also dipped its toe in international waters with a $5 million gross in 12 territories. Best of the major markets were Russia with $1.5 million, Italy grossing $1.4 million and $1.1 million in the UK.

An aggressive marketing campaign for Florence Foster Jenkins caused one industry wag to ponder whether the true story of the 1940s philanthropist and aspiring (though talentless) opera singer could possibly ever attract a young audience. The early answer is “no” with exit demos identifying viewers as 97% aged 25-years and older with a 61% female tilt. But that older crowd is definitely out in droves for the oddball diva.

Flo-Jen has been out internationally since May and grossed about $12 million from a dozen openings to date with Australia providing $2.7 million and the UK $4.5 million to the total.

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