Here’s Why ‘Sausage Party’ Unexpectedly Killed Box Office Sales

In a generation so food-obsessed, Sony, with the help of Seth Rogen, hit it out of the park with audiences via their animated food comedy “Sausage Party.” The film started out with a Rotten Tomato score of 93 and now holds a still impressive 83. It brought in more than double of what predictions had set for it, grossing $33.6 million. The trailer has 21 million views, so how did it come to be that a raunchy animated film about sausages did so much better than the industry thought it would?

Sausage party was funny af 😭 pic.twitter.com/f5wRY6RGIO

— Dominic DeAngelis (@DOMtheB0MB) August 14, 2016

The premise of the movie is that all grocery store products are constantly awaiting salvation (or purchase by a customer), but in actuality they are being chosen to be skinned alive and die a painful death.

Today’s food culture has become centered around trending recipes and food that is photo-worthy and this movie’s unexpected success is proof that food is such a resonating topic with today’s young adults who have grown up with a unique and special connection with it. So it’s no surprise that this raunch-fest that has such a noteworthy mastermind behind it, and who is also responsible for many of our other favorite box office hits, did so well.

“What the filmmakers brought really inspired the marketing team to do things really different — just like the film itself,” President of Sony Distribution told TheWrap

Overall, it’s foul-mouthed hilarity that is based on the doomed journey that food takes when it is purchased, and it’s that kind of crude humor in an unsuspected setting that Generation-Y eats up. Rogen’s original concept and his ability to connect with young adults through his suggestive films surely had a part in the movie’s resonance with the audience.

Fine Brothers Entertainment does a short review of the trailer with some older folks, and here you can watch them react to the trailer, and in a predictable way at that. The folks are repulsed by the language and ultimately confused at why an A-list cast would succumb to being associated with such a film. I firmly believe that all that our generation wants is to be kids forever, and one gentleman in the elders review solidifies the biggest difference between them and us. He says that he was a fan of cartoons when he was young… then slams them by basically saying, “and then I grew up.” Burn. But with a generation that lives for Disneyland and food porn pics, this movie hit the nail on the head as far as reading today’s audience, and it’s got the numbers to prove it.

Ultimately we’re able to thoroughly enjoy the inappropriate writing and twisted animation, while also forgetting about being adults for a second.

Photo Credit: Dominic DeAngelis