Box Office: ‘Martian’ Holds Top Spot With Strong $37-M Take
$TWX, $SNE, $CMCSA, $FOX, $LGF, $IMAX
Robert Zemeckis’ ‘The Walk’ in free-fall, while ‘Steve Jobs’ marks of the top location averages of all time in limited launch; ‘Pan’ DOA, and struggling overseas.
Joe Wright’s big-budget Pan is looking like a major loss for Warner Bros. a unit of Time Warner (NYSE:TWX), after opening to $15.5-M from 3,515 theaters in North America, a grim start for a film that cost $150-M to make. The film garnered at B+ CinemaScore from audiences.
Ridley Scott’s The Martian took the Top Spot at the weekend box office race with $37-M from 3,854 locations after declining just 32% in its 2nd frame or a domestic total of $108.7-M. The space epic, starring Matt Damon, also continued very good overseas, earning another $58.1-M from 74 markets for an early foreign box office total of $119-M and global box office of $227.7 -M.
Pan opened to a weak $20.5-M from 52 markets overseas representing 40% of the foreign marketplace, putting its early foreign total at $40.6-M. Unless it does big business internationally, Warners is facing a very steep loss. Pan rolls out in China on 22 October.
Sony’s NYSE:SNE) family offering Hotel Transylvania 2, took in $20.3-M from 3,768 theaters in its 3rd weekend for a North American take of $116.8-M. Hotel Transylvania 2 is a force overseas, grossing a strong $22.7-M internationally from 59 markets for a foreign take of $90.9-M and worldwide box office total of $207.7-M.
Robert Zemeckis’ The Walk expanded nationwide Friday into more than 2,515 locations after debuting to a weak $1.6-M last weekend in an exclusive Imax (NYSE:IMAX) run. The film, which has awards aspirations, took in $3.7-M for a 7th-place finish and domestic box office of $6.4-M. It’s the lowest nationwide start on record for the filmmaker, and the 7th-worst bow of all time for a film opening in more than 2,500 locations.
Audiences in New York and Los Angeles took to Danny Boyle’s Steve Jobs, from Universal, a unit of Comcast Corp (NASDAQ:CMCSA). The Steve Jobs biopic took in $521,000 for the weekend from 4 theaters, putting its location average at $130,236, the best showing of Y 2015 to date and the biggest since American Sniper at $158,350.
Steve Jobs’ performance bodes well as it prepares to expand timed to Awards season. The critically acclaimed film was written by Aaron Sorkin and stars Michael Fassbender, Kate Winslet, Seth Rogen and Jeff Daniels. The film skewed young for an adult drama, with 51% of the audience under the age of 35, and skewed slightly male (53%). The film rolls out nationwide on 23 October.
Documentary He Named Me Malala, another Awards hopeful, expanded into a total of 446 theaters in its 2nd weekend, earning an estimated $670,000 for a location average of roughly $1,502. That puts the movie’s early take at $752,000 for Fox Searchlight (NASDAQ:FOX).
The Intern continued to hold well, grossing an estimated $8.5-M from 3,224 theaters in its 4th weekend for a domestic box office of $49.2-M. The comedy placed # 4, followed by Denis Villeneuve’s awards contender Sicario with a healthy $7.2-M from 2,620 locations.
From Lionsgate (NYSE:LGF), Sicario has now earned $26.7-M domestically and $16.7-M overseas for an early global box office of $43.4-M.
Have some fun see a movie this week.
HeffX-LTN
Paul Ebeling
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