It had all the makings of a great, late-summer shindig. The chips. The hot dog buns. The cute little baby carrots. Yes, every cast member was prepared to toast a victory for Sony’s Sausage Party. The wieners were gonna be winners. But wouldn’t you know it: Deadshot and his collection of cantankerous cohorts busted in and spoiled everything.
Despite withering reviews and the loss of more than two-thirds of its audience, Warner Brothers’ Suicide Squad still topped the box office for the second straight weekend, pilfering an estimated $43.8 million from moviegoers to once again laugh maniacally at the rest of the field. In just two weeks, Squad has earned $222.9 million, making it the fourth superhero movie to claim a spot in the year’s Top 10 thus far. It’s ranked eighth, behind No. 2 Captain America: Civil War ($407.5 million), No. 3 Deadpool ($363.1 million), and No. 7 Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice ($330.4 million).
Suicide Squad’s performance spoiled Seth Rogen’s sentient, faith-hating hot dogs. Not that Sausage Party has hit its expiration date quite yet: Indeed, most prognosticators were expecting this heaping helping of hedonistic food to make about half of the $33.6 million it ended up chowing down. But those who did see it left feeling a little queasy: According to CinemaScore, which tracks audience reaction to new movies, Sausage Party could only cook up a “B” reaction—a fairly disappointing score for typically kind-hearted movie-lovers. (In CinemaScore’s bell curve, an A- is a good, solid C.)
Still, those salacious sausages did ruin the debut of yet another charming Disney live-action remake. Pete’s Dragon soared with critics (including Plugged In reviewer Bob Hoose), but it was relatively invisible for most audiences. It earned just $21.5 million to finish third.
Still, Disney’s latest performed better than the weekend’s third newcomer, Florence Foster Jenkins. The new Meryl Streep comedy came out sounding a bit flat, trilling its way to just $6.6 million and an eighth-place finish. Methinks the real Florence Foster Jenkins might have gotten a better turnout back in the day.
Jason Bourne, meanwhile, continues to stalk the upper echelons of the box office, surely eyeing his competitors with one of those nifty monocles of his. His titular movie banked another $13.6 million—more than enough to buy thousands of cheap burner cell phones—and finished fourth. Bad Moms wrapped up the Top Five with an $11.5 million weekend.
Final figures update: 1. Suicide Squad, $43.5 million; 2. Sausage Party, $34.3 million; 3. Pete’s Dragon, $21.5 million; 4. Jason Bourne, $13.8 million; 5. Bad Moms, $11.4 million.
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