‘Ben-Hur’ DOA With $11.4 Million, ‘Suicide Squad’ Wins Weekend With $20.7 Million

For Paramount and MGM’s “Ben-Hur” reboot, prophecies of its bad box office performance came true as the big-budget biblical feature opened to only an estimated $11.4 million this weekend.

Warner Bros.’ comic-book movie “Suicide Squad” earned the top spot during its third weekend in theaters with an estimated $20.7 million as Sony’s R-rated animated holdover “Sausage Party” came in at No. 2 with $15.3 million.

[...] the pricey remake “Ben-Hur” barely made it into the top five as estimates have it edging out Disney holdover “Pete’s Dragon,” which made $11.3 million.

Opening figures for “Ben-Hur,” whose production budget was at least $100 million, put it in line to become one of the biggest box office bombs of the summer.

“Ben-Hur” stars Jack Huston, Toby Kebbell, Rodrigo Santoro and Morgan Freeman in the epic story of Judah Ben-Hur, who flees his homeland after being falsely accused of treason only to come back years later to seek revenge.

Animated feature “Kubo and the Two Strings,” with a voice cast including Matthew McConaughey and Charlize Theron, could have legs in the coming weeks after opening in 3,260 theaters.

[...] animated features have a long history of holding more consistent interest weekend-over-weekend than live-action movies.

[...] “War Dogs,” produced for roughly $40 million, opened in 3,258 locations.

Directed by Todd Phillips, “War Dogs” is based on a true story of two men who won a $300 million contract from the Pentagon to arm America’s allies in Afghanistan.