By Leonard Klady Klady@moviecitynews.com
The Weekend Report
Suicide Squad made it a triple as it held top spot with an estimated $20.7 million. Three debuting national releases opened to middling results with fact-based seriocomedy War Dogs faring best with $14.2 million and the animated adventure Kubo and the Two Strings grossing $12.5 million. And definitely losing the chariot race was Ben-Hur with $11.2 million.
Exclusives included gamer-dervied Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV with $115,000 and an encouraging $35,600 bow for A Tale of Love and Darkness on two screens. Hell or High Water had an effective expansion that nabbed $2.6 million.
In the niches, Hindi Happy Bhaag Jaayegi bowed to a disappointing $147,000 while Chinese import Line Walker was solid with $107,000 at 24 venues.
Session revenues generated more than $130 million and ebbed back 24% from last weekend. It was a carbon copy 24% on the plus side from 2015 when the second weekend of Straight Outta Compton led with $26.4 million and newcomers Sinister 2 and Hitman: Agent 47 opened respectively with $10.5 million and $8.3 million.
War Dogs, the tale of two unlikely weapons merchants, prevailed over its competition in large part to clever, concise marketing. It slightly exceeded pundit expectations that situated it behind Kubo in popularity. Studio exit demos identified the opening crowd as 56% male with 67% aged 25-years and older. The core 18-34-year old component comprised 42% of viewers. The film opened day-and-date in 31 international markets to an estimated $6.5 million. Top territories included Russia with $1.9 million and Australia witg $1.1 million.
The audience might have smelled a rat with the American-produced Kubo and the Two Strings. Tracking suggested a $15 million to $17 million launch that would have been a stunner for a true anime. Audience demos weren’t available at press deadline.
The telling question for the third incarnation of Ben-Hur was: Why? or Why Now? The box office result provided no clear answer in what’s shaping up as the biggest commercial casualty of 2016. Despite some buzz about the non-CGI conclusive chariot encounter (a hallmark of both prior versions), promotional material obviously did little to stir crowd interest and industry mavens decried a dismal $12-$13 million debut.
On the domestic front, viewers were 51% male with 94% aged 25-years and older (a higher percentage than last weekend’s Florence Foster Jenkins). Information was unavailable on the percentage of viewers that had seen either the 1959 version with Charlton Heston or the 1925 original. Internationally Ben-Hur opened in 23 markets to slightly more than $11 million. Its top performers were Mexico at $2.5 million and Olympic-wary Brazil grossing $2.5 million.
| Weekend (estimates) August 19 – 21, 2016 | |||||
| Title | Distributor | Gross (average) | % chng | Thtrs | Cume |
| Suicide Squad | WB | 20.7 (5,280) | -53% | 3924 | 262.3 |
| Sausage Party | Sony | 15.3 (4,920) | -55% | 3103 | 65.3 |
| War Dogs | WB | 14.2 (4,350) | NEW | 3258 | 14.2 |
| Kubo and the Two Strings | Focus | 12.5 (3,840) | NEW | 3260 | 12.5 |
| Pete’s Dragon | BV | 11.4 (3,070) | -47% | 3702 | 42.9 |
| Ben-Hur | Par | 11.2 (3,640) | NEW | 3084 | 11.2 |
| Bad Moms | STX/eOne | 8.0 (2,850) | -29% | 2811 | 85.8 |
| Jason Bourne | Uni | 8.0 (2,760) | -42% | 2887 | 140.9 |
| The Secret Life of Pets | Uni | 5.8 (2,400) | -36% | 2404 | 346.7 |
| Florence Foster Jenkins | Par/eOne | 4.3 (2,830) | -34% | 1528 | 14.4 |
| Star Trek Beyond | Par | 4.0 (2,020) | -42% | 1966 | 146.9 |
| Hell or High Water | CBS | 2.6 (5,490) | 317% | 472 | 3.4 |
| Lights Out | WB | 1.6 (1,720) | -50% | 942 | 64.2 |
| Nine Lives | Europa/VVS | 1.4 (1,010) | -61% | 1364 | 17 |
| Nerve | Lionsgate | 1.2 (1,440) | -53% | 859 | 35.7 |
| Ghostbusters | Sony | 1.1 (1,370) | -52% | 788 | 123.9 |
| Finding Dory | BV | .86 (1,910) | -35% | 450 | 478.4 |
| Ice Age: Collision Course | Fox | .84 (1,070) | -59% | 782 | 60.8 |
| Anthropoid | Bleecker/Elevation | .55 (1,240) | -56% | 441 | 2.2 |
| Indignation | Roadside | .53 (1,670) | -30% | 317 | 2.3 |
| Café Society | Lionsgate/Mongrel | .52 (1,920) | -45% | 271 | 9.3 |
| Don’t Think Twice | Film Arcade | .39 (3,930) | 8% | 100 | 1.8 |
| Rustom | Zee Studios | .37 (3,020) | -52% | 123 | 1.5 |
| The Legend of Tarzan | WB | .37 (1,100) | 1% | 338 | 125.4 |
| The BFG | BV | .31 (1,500) | 13% | 207 | 53.8 |
| Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) | $126.60 | ||||
| % Change (Last Year) | 24% | ||||
| % Change (Last Week) | -24% | ||||
| Also debuting/expanding | |||||
| Captain Fantastic | Bleecker Street/ eOne | .23 (1,480) | -35% | 153 | 4.6 |
| Hunt for the Wilderpeople | Orchard | .17 (1,370) | -24% | 125 | 4.2 |
| Operaton Chromite | CJ | .16 (3,430) | -48% | 46 | 0.74 |
| Happy Bhaag Jaayegi | Eros | .15 (1,960) | 75 | 0.15 | |
| Equity | Sony Classics | .14 (3,230) | 6% | 43 | 0.53 |
| Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV | Stage 6 | .11 (3,780) | 24 | 0.11 | |
| Line Walker | Media Asia | .11 (5,340) | 20 | 0.11 | |
| Train to Busan | Well Go | 81,400 (3,700) | -37% | 22 | 1.5 |
| Little Men | Magnolia | 66,500 (2,560) | -38% | 26 | 0.2 |
| A Tale of Love and Darkness | Focus | 35,600 (17,800) | 2 | 0.04 | |
| Imperium | Lionsgate | 33,100 (1,650) | 20 | 0.03 | |
| The People vs. Fritz Bauer | Cohen Media | 31,600 (5,100) | 6 | 0.03 | |
| Dharma Durai | Praneeth | 25,300 (650) | 39 | 0.03 | |
| Main Teri tu Mera | Hot Ice | 23,100 (1,360) | 17 | 0.02 | |
| The Run Off 2 | CJ | 19,300 (2,410) | 8 | 0.02 | |
| Morris from America | A24 | 15,100 (7,550) | 2 | 0.02 | |
| Sweet Sixteen | China Lion | 10,600 (1,180) | 9 | 0.01 | |
| Spa Night | Strand | 5,900 (5,900) | 1 | 0.01 | |
| Billionaire Ransom | Orion | 5,100 (510) | 10 | 0.01 | |
| Ixcanul | Kino | 4,700 (4,700) | 1 | 0.01 | |
| Domestic Market Share (January 1 – August 18, 2016) | |||||
| Distributor (releases) | Box Office | Market Share | |||
| Buena Vista (11) | 2077.8 | 27.10% | |||
| Warner Bros. (18) | 1235.3 | 16.10% | |||
| 20th Century Fox (14) | 1135.5 | 14.80% | |||
| Universal (14) | 998.4 | 13.00% | |||
| Sony (18) | 553.1 | 7.20% | |||
| Paramount (11) | 550.7 | 7.20% | |||
| Lionsgate (16) | 314.3 | 4.10% | |||
| Fous (8) | 134.5 | 1.70% | |||
| STX (5) | 132.8 | 1.70% | |||
| Open Road (5) | 69.9 | 0.90% | |||
| Weinstein Co. (8) | 54.9 | 0.70% | |||
| A24 (7) | 48.7 | 0.60% | |||
| Roadside Attractions (8) | 36.6 | 0.50% | |||
| Other * (249) | 337.5 | 4.40% | |||
| 7680 | 100% | ||||
| * none greater than 0.4% | |||||
