USA TODAY International Edition
The wheels come off big- budget ‘ Ben- Hur’
Remake takes an epic whipping at the box office
Suicide Squad easily won the box office for the third week in a row, but all attention was focused on the extreme derailing of Ben- Hur.
Paramount and MGM’s saga directed by Timur Bekmambetov crashed to a $ 11.35 million opening weekend, barely finishing fifth, according to studio estimates. The wreck was compounded by an estimated production budget of $ 100 million.
Even with producers Mark Burnett and Roma Downey ( The Bible) and a sizable role for Jesus,
Ben- Hur couldn’t attract faithdriven moviegoers to support the retelling of the 1959 classic, which won 11 Academy Awards, including best picture.
“This is the epic fail of the summer,” says Jeff Bock, senior box office analyst for Exhibitor Relations. “This was pushed as a straight- up action film. They courted the Christian demographic too late.
“And don’t remake a film that won best picture. They still teach
Ben- Hur in film school. Hopefully, this is a lesson for Hollywood.”
With Jack Huston playing the part of the betrayed nobleman turned slave seeking revenge ( and finding redemption) in the role made famous by Charlton Heston, critics were not impressed. Ben
Hur earned a lowly 29% critical approval rating on the aggregation site RottenTomatoes. com, while audiences graded the drama an A- minus at CinemaScore.
Suicide Squad continued its perch atop the box office in its third week, earning $ 20.7 million for a total of $ 262.3 million. The critically maligned Warner Bros. production benefited from weak end- of- summer competition.
“Suicide Squad took a shrewd box office strategy,” says Paul Der- garabedian, senior media analyst for comScore. “Everyone has been picking on this film critically. But the power of anti- superheroes at the box office is unquestionable. Do you want love or do you want box office dominance?”
Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg’s R- rated animated comedy
Sausage Party took second place in its second weekend with $ 15.3 million ( for a total of $ 65.3 million). The comedic drama War Dogs, starring Miles Teller and Jonah Hill as international arms dealers, opened third with $ 14.3 million.
The weekend’s only opening film with positive reviews, the animated adventure Kubo and
the Two Strings, came in fourth with $ 12.6 million. The stopmotion film about a samuraisword- wielding boy featured the voices of Charlize Theron, Ralph Fiennes and Matthew McConaughey.
Dergarabedian expects that the movie “will play out well over time with this kind of critical reception and in this environment. August is a great place to go for broke and try a different film for audiences.”
Final numbers are out Monday.