Suicide Squad tops box office second weekend in a row - but the real winner is Sausage Party

'When you have something so fresh, it just stands out to audiences'

A scene from ‘Suicide Squad’

Suicide Squad continues its run atop the box office, securing a second weekend as the highest grossing film worldwide.

The villainous team-up took $58.7 million from 15,600 non-US cinemas in 62 territories, the worldwide haul totalling $465.4 million.

In the UK, the film took $5.5 million in week two, while in the US it made $43.8 million, a hefty 67% down on last week, almost equalling the drop seen week-on-week by Batman v Superman.

Analysts have put the major drop down to negative critical reviews and bad word-of-mouth, the film currently holding a B+ Cinescore when superhero films normally score around an A.

This isn’t good news for Warner Bros. The studio has to recuperate a hefty $175 million production cost along with $100 million on marketing; various reports have indicated that - to turn a profit - the film will have to make in the region of $800 million.

In the US, the weekend’s big winner was Sausage Party, the R-Rated Seth Rogan film taking $33.6 million domestically on a $19 million production cost.

“When you have something so fresh, it just stands out to audiences,” Rory Bruer, Sony’s distribution chief, told Variety.

However, while Sony grossed big, Disney faltered as Pete’s Dragon - a remake of the 1977 film starring Robert Redford and Bryce Dallas Howard - only took $21.6 million. Bosses at the studio are confident that positive word of mouth, along with glowing critical reviews, will help give the film legs.

Meanwhile, Suicide Squad director David Ayer has explained why a certain member of the team was killed off so quickly in the film.