Despite a steep drop and moviegoers attending a sausage party, there was a repeat champ at the box office this weekend.
Coming in first again is Suicide Squad, which made $43.7 million during its second weekend. That’s a hard 67.3 percent drop from its record-breaking debut, indicating that the project may be front loaded and not have very strong legs. It is worth pointing out that Suicide Squad‘s decrease was slightly lower than Batman V Superman: Dawn of Justice (69.1 percent) earlier this year, but that still isn’t great. The latest installment in the DC Extended Universe was positioned as the last major tentpole of the season and didn’t have much in the way of competition, but there was a sharp decline. On the positive side, the film has made $222.8 million domestically and $465.3 million worldwide, so it’s made a profit and then some.
Opening in second is the R-rated animated romp Sausage Party (read our review), which won the Friday daily box office en route to a $33.6 million start. The movie benefitted from the positive response, which only helped sell its absurd premise to a wider audience. What’s more is that Sausage Party cost only $19 million to produce (extremely cheap for a CGI project), so it nearly doubled those costs in a single weekend. Given that the word-of-mouth is there, the movie should hold well over the next few weeks and have a fruitful run at the box office.
Coming in third is the new family film Pete’s Dragon (read our review), which made $21.5 million in its first three days. This year has seen hit after hit for Walt Disney Pictures, but in this case they were probably hoping for much more. Pete’s Dragon had a very modest debut – even though it received largely positive reviews – and couldn’t contend with all else that was playing. It’s a rare instance of a Disney live-action remake not hitting it big, and with interest this low at the start, it’s unlikely the film can turn things around moving forward. The good news is that Pete’s Dragon cost “only” $65 million to make, so if the international numbers are there, the studio won’t lose money.
The #4 film is Jason Bourne, grossing $13.6 million. The action sequel is now up to $126.7 million in the States.
Rounding out the top five is Bad Moms. The comedy brought in $11.4 million to raise its domestic total to an impressive $71.4 million.
In sixth is The Secret Life of Pets with $8.8 million. It’s now at $335.9 million domestically, good enough for sixth on the yearly charts.
Star Trek Beyond comes in seventh, making $6.8 million. The sci-fi sequel has now made $139.6 million Stateside.
New film Florence Foster Jenkins opens in eighth with $6.5 million. It was able to find some traction as a counter-programming option, boosted by the star power of Meryl Streep and Hugh Grant.
Aptly enough, Nine Lives is the #9 movie of the weekend, grossing $3.5 million. It is currently at $13.5 million domestically.
Capping off the top ten is Lights Out. The horror movie made $3.2 million to raise its Stateside total to $61.1 million.
[NOTE: These are only weekend box office estimates — based on Friday and Saturday ticket sales coupled with adjusted expectations for Sunday. Official weekend box office results will be released on Monday, August 15 — at which time we’ll update this post with any changes.]
