Seth Rogen’s ‘Sausage Party’ beats ‘Suicide Squad’ at the Friday box office

Sony’s R-rated, animated talking-food film “Sausage Party” took a major bite out of the box office on Friday with a stronger-than-expected opening. But when the final weekend numbers are fully digested, the supervillain mash-up “Suicide Squad” should still hold onto its spot at the top of the charts.

“Sausage Party” – the latest raunchy, gleefully offensive comedy from longtime collaborators Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg, who co-produced the film and co-wrote the script with Kyle Hunter and Ariel Shaffir – took in $13.5 million Friday.

While early tracking had showed the film headed for an opening in the neighborhood of $22 million, with the studio cautiously setting its sights even lower, audiences are eagerly gobbling up “Sausage Party” tickets at a rate that should put its ultimate weekend haul at $32 million to $34 million.

Not only would that top the debuts of recent Rogen-starring films such as “Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising” and “The Night Before,” but it would set a record for an R-rated animated film, handily beating out earlier efforts like 1999’s “South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut.”

Stung by overwhelmingly negative reviews, Warner Bros.’ edgy comic-book film “Suicide Squad” appears to be headed for a precipitous fall in its second weekend. Following its massive $134 million opening, which set a record for an August release, the movie took in $13.35 million on Friday, which puts it on pace for a weekend tally of $44 million to $46 million.

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Watch Seth Rogen, no stranger to edgy filmmaking, with actor Randall Park after a screening of “The Interview” at Los Angeles’ Downtown Independent theater as the crowd gets movie swag.

While a second-weekend drop of roughly 66% would be an improvement over the 69% tumble “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice” took in its second weekend in March, it still has to be considered a disappointing result for Warner Bros. as the studio looks to build excitement going forward for its critically important slate of future DC superhero films, including “Wonder Woman” and “Justice League.”

On the plus side, “Suicide Squad” will not only easily retain its No. 1 spot at the end of the weekend, but it is on track to boast the biggest second weekend in August history, beating the $42.1-million mark set by Marvel’s “Guardians of the Galaxy” in 2014.

Disney’s latest live-action family film, “Pete’s Dragon,” had been widely expected to take second place in this weekend’s box office race. But despite largely positive reviews, the remake of the 1977 hybrid live-action-animated film about a boy who befriends a dragon took in roughly $7 million Friday and should land in third place this weekend at around $22 million.

The weekend’s other major release, Paramount Pictures’ period dramedy “Florence Foster Jenkins,” earned $2 million on Friday. Starring Meryl Streep as a socialite who attempts to become an opera singer despite a terrible voice, the film earned strong reviews and A- CinemaScore, which should propel it to a $6-million opening weekend.

josh.rottenberg@latimes.com

Twitter: @joshrottenberg

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