Box Office: 'Sausage Party' Is An Animated Adult Smash
Sunday, August 14, 2016 at 3:00PM This weekend while Suicide Squad suffered one of the biggest superhero second weekend dropoffs ever and Pete's Dragon had one of the mildest starts for a Disney remake, Sausage Party was breaking box office ground for adult animation. The high concept comedy had the biggest opening ever for animated film meant for grown-ups, passing 2007's violent Beowulf (apologies for reminding you of its existence).
While Party is unlikely to repeat the animation for grownups Oscar nomination breakthrough that Anomalisa achieved last year, this strong box office opening shows that medium doesn't need to appeal to the kiddies to be commercially viable. The most popular toons often become so partly because they are equally embraced by adults - we love animation just as much, so the rarity of one aimed squarely at us remains perplexing. Sausage Party is on track to surpass South Park - Bigger, Longer, and Uncut's business, so maybe we'll at least get more bawdy animated comedies if not the type of character dramas that Anomalisa was trying to deliver.
TOP TEN
01 Suicide Squad $43.7M (cum $222.9M) Review
02 Sausage Party $33.6M NEW
03 Pete's Dragon $21.5M NEW Review
04 Jason Bourne $13.6M (cum $126.8M) Review
05 Bad Moms $11.4M (cum $71.4M)
06 The Secret Lives of Pets $8.8M (cum $335.9M)
07 Star Trek Beyond $6.8M (cum $139.7M) Review
08 Florence Foster Jenkins $6.6M NEW Review
09 Nine Lives $3.5M (cum $13.5M)
10 Lights Out $3.2M (cum $61.1M)
Limited releases were mostly quiet this weekend, with the biggest winner being the well-reviewed Texas crime drama Hell or High Water. Led by Jeff Bridges, Chris Pine, and Ben Foster, the film grossed $592,000 at 32 theatres for the weekend's per screen average of almost $19K.
What did you see this weekend??
Reader Comments (12)
I saw Puzzle Of A Downfall Child with Faye Dunaway,fascinating performance gr8 support from Viveca Lindfors.
Hell or High Water, which played for me as more TV show than cinema. Actors are all fine, but tone wanders from jokey to violent to sentimental. Chris Pine very handsome in it.
So, nothing has clearly "failed" relative to it's budget of the new releases. (Sausage Party is mega cheap at a $19 million budget, so it's already almost broken even with it's $33 million opener, Pete's Dragon with it's $21.5 million domestic opener is kind of low, but I'd say it's probable to get to the $130 million point it needs to break even with it's $65 million budget, especially since it could have legs and gross slightly more next week and Florence Foster Jenkins clearing $38 million worldwide is going to happen.)
I watched "The Way We Were," a favorite from my junior high days! Wanted to see it still held up. It does, thanks to Streisand and Redford's memorable chemistry, and no thanks to Pollack's hacking on some key dramatic scenes to make room for romance. By coincidence, it's Robert Redford's 80th birthday Aug. 18!
Here's my blog post about "The Way We Were":
http://ricksrealreel.blogspot.com/2016/08/robert-redford-and-barbra-streisand.html
An adult comedy set in the 1940's creeped into the top ten? Nice.
Suicide Squad - Completely forgettable, but not nearly the trainwreck that reviews made it out to be.
The Little Prince - Delightful. A lovely adaptation, with great voice work.
When Harry Met Sally - Just perfect.
Sunset Boulevard - stunning. I was initially underwhelmed, but the impact just keeps growing.
@Jonny
My wife had the same reaction to the movie when I first had her watch it.
i'm very excited about Hell or High Water. Chris Pine is seriously talented.
I saw "Light's Out" an effective one gimmick horror movie with an above average cast ( the premise is very similar to " Darkness Falls" (2003) ) "Looking- the Movie" on HBO which I enjoyed so much and I hope this is not the real end of the series. Jonny "Sunset Boulevard" is still one of the best movies ever made about the dark side of Hollywood and a masterpiece of film noir- that dialogue alone is to die for "I'm ready for my close-up Mr Demille"
I saw Hitchcock/Truffaut. The 85 minute run time felt like 385 minutes.
I saw Indignation. It felt very self-consciously "literary" but I still enjoyed it - it made me think back to a lot of family stories from the era. And Tracy Letts was brilliant with the heavy dialogue.
I also finally caught up with The Lobster. I think this is the type of film that seems excellent as you are watching it because of the heavy reliance on plot but falls apart once you think about it. The screenplay really isn't very good - it's a cop-out to write a script set in the future where the people have no access to technology, and the Lea Seydoux character makes no sense (how is she so powerful, and yet meets such an easy end by a person who seems so weak?). In addition, I think that director goes for the easy shock too often (the long shot of the dog is one example).
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