Early Returns: 'Sausage Party' Leads the Preview Pack

Last weekend had the big-time debut of Suicide Squad to crank up the excitement, but this weekend at the movies looks like it's going to be lukewarm by comparison. Of the three new releases this week, the R-rated animated comedy Sausage Party is generating the most interest, and the Seth Rogen-produced flickattracted a decent audience for preview showings on Thursday night.

Sausage Party earned $3 million in preview showings, a number that leaves it on track to pull in a projected $15-$20 million by the end of the weekend. Just for the sake of comparison, consider that Suicide Squad took in $20.5 million last Thursday on its way to an open-weekend gross of over $130 million. Even if Sausage Party has a bigger than expected weekend, and if Suicide Squad falls off more than expected, the new film is still probably going to come in second to Suicide Squad.

The second-biggest new release of the week, Disney's Pete's Dragon, didn't have any Thursday-night showings, a move that acknowledges that the film is only targeting a family audience and expects to do its biggest business on Saturday and Sunday afternoons.

The week's third new film, the period drama Florence Foster Jenkins, did have preview showings, but it only pulled in $190,000 on Thursday. It's on track to earn somewhere between $5 and $10 million for the weekend.