Bryan Alexander

USA TODAY

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 faith-driven moviegoers to support the retelling of the 1959 classic, which won 11 Academy Awards, including best picture.

Everybody got down and dirty for epic 'Ben-Hur' race

"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," Bock adds. "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 received a lowly 29% critical approval rating on the review 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 Dergarabedian, 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. War Dogs received a lowly 59% critical score on Rotten Tomatoes and earned a B from audiences at CinemaScore.

Review: 'Kubo' is a gorgeous coming-of-age story with Asian roots

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 stop-motion film about a samurai sword-wielding boy featured the voices of Charlize Theron, Ralph Fiennes and Matthew McConaughey.

Kubo was lauded with a 96% critical score on RottenTomatoes.com.and an A from audiences at CinemaScore.

Dergarabedian anticipates 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 expected Monday.