Weekend Box Office (October 9 - 11, 2015)

by Sujit Chawla

THIS WEEKEND Audiences continued to send their money to Mars, a reimagining of a classic fairy tale opened to disappointing numbers, one film expanded into a disaster and one film exploded in limited release.

For a second straight weekend, The Martian took the top spot at the box office, slipping a slight 32% to an estimated $37M, bringing its total to $109M. The fall was a bit larger than fellow outer space thriller Gravity had in its second weekend when it fell only 23%. If The Martian travels along the same path it could hit $210M by the end of its run. Of course Gravity had the added benefit of immediately becoming an Oscar favorite while the buzz for The Martian is strong, but not as strong.

Sony's animated sequel Hotel Transylvania 2 dropped a slim 39% in its third trip around the multiplexes, taking in an estimated $20.3M this weekend, bringing its total up to $116.8M. It's still ahead of the original's $102M after its third weekend which means we should be hearing of a greenlight for the third film any minute now...

Opening poorly in third place was the Warner Bros. reimagining of the classic Peter Pan story, Pan. With an estimated budget of $150M, the film took in an estimated $15.5M this weekend from 3,515 theaters for a dismal per screen average of $4,418. A mediocre result for most films it looks even worse for a film of this magnitude. Critics have ravaged the film, which is sitting at 23% positive reviews on Rotten Tomatoes. Audiences have been enjoying it a bit more, giving it a B+ CinemaScore, but unless international audiences take a shine to it, this is going to be a costly mistake for the studio.

On the other end of the scale, studio stablemate The Intern had the lowest drop in the top 10, slipping only 26% to an estimated $8.6 this weekend, bringing its total up to $49.6 on an estimated $35-40M budget. But who do you think will get to direct another movie first, Pan's Joe Wright or The Intern's Nancy Meyers?

Critical darling Sicario landed in fifth place this weekend with an estimated $7.4M bringing its total after a month to $27.7M. Sixth place belonged to Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials which made $5.3M this weekend, according to estimates, bringing its cume up to $70.6M.

Expanding out of IMAX and into theaters everywhere, The Walk hit a proverbial wall this weekend, taking in an estimated $3.7M for a dismal per screen average of $1,455. Critics loved the film but it seems no one wanted to go see it. Cume now stands at $6.4M. In eighth place was the Johnny Depp-starrer Black Mass which earned an estimated $3.1M this weekend bringing its total up to $57.6M after four weeks.

Universal took the final two positions in the top 10 with their mountain climbing thriller Everest which took in $3M, according to estimates, and The Visit which scared up an estimated $2.4M this weekend. Totals now stand at $38M and $61M respectively.

Debuting outside the top 10 was Steve Jobs which took in an estimated $521,000 from only 4 theaters for a per screen average of a scorching $130,250. And everyone knows, Oscar loves biopics.

The top ten films grossed an estimated $106.3M which was down 19% from last year when Gone Girl remained at number one with $26.4M; and up 3% from 2013 when Gravity also repeated at number one with $43.1M. Compared to projections, Pan came in just a little below Gitesh's $17M forecast.

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For a review of He Named Me Malala visit The Chief Report.

Be sure to check back on Monday for final figures and again on Thursday for a complete summary, including projections, for next weekend when Bridge of Spies, Crimson Peak and Goosebumps all open wide.


THIS WEEKEND's TOP 10

Last Updated: October 11, 2015 at 1:00PM ET

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