Box Office: ‘The Martian’ Makes Powerful $55-M Debut

Box Office: ‘The Martian’ Makes Powerful $55-M Debut

$IMAX, $FOX, $SNE, $LGF, $TWX

Ridley Scott’s space epic also dominated overseas with $45.2 million; Robert Zemeckis’ ‘The Walk’ is soft in limited Imax (NYSE:IMAX) debut, while ‘Sicario’ races up the chart to # 3.

Ridley Scott’s 3D space epic The Martian rocketed to a $55-M opening in North America, coming in ahead of expectations and almost beating Gravity to nab the top October opening of all time, according to Sunday estimates.

The Martian, from 20th Century Fox (NASDAQ:FOX), continues Hollywood’s love affair with space, and comes exactly two years after Alfonso Cuaron’s Gravity opened to a record $55.8-M. Last November, Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar debuted just north of $47-M. If The Martian does better than expected Sunday, it could beat Gravity and become the new October box office winner.

Overseas, The Martian also placed # 1, blasting off with $45.2-M from 49 markets, or 40% of the marketplace, for a global debut of $100.2-M. It soared to $10.3-M in the UK. the top showing ever for Mr. Scott and star Matt Damon, and is pacing well ahead of Gravity and Interstellar in numerous markets.

The other big headline internationally was Lost in Hong Kong, which grossed $41-M in China to clear the $200-M mark at the Chinese box office in just 10 days.

Drew Goddard wrote the adapted script for The Martian based on Andy Weir’s best-selling book about a NASA astronaut left for dead on Mars.

The film, costing $108-M to produce, is a critical darling and earned a A CinemaScore from audiences.

The filmmakers worked closely with NASA throughout the making of The Martian. And last week, just as the movie prepared to open, the space agency, which hopes to have a man on Mars in the 2030’s held an an urgent press conference to announce it has confirmed the discovery of liquid salt water on the Red Planet, NASA says the timing was a coincidence.”

Males made up 56% of ticket buyers, while 72% of the audience was over the age of 25. Roughly 45% saw it in 3D.

Denis Villeneuve’s critically acclaimed Sicario expanded nationwide, grossing $12.1-M from 2,620 theaters to place # 3, the drug cartel drama garnered an A- CinemaScore.

Sicario took in another $3.3-M internationally for a foreign box office take of $10-M and global box office of $25.1-M, its domestic box office total is $15.1-M.

Sony’s (NYSE:SNE) Hotel Transylvania sequel remains a winner in its second outing. The animated film took in $33 million for a 10-day domestic total of $90.5 million after falling just 32%. Overseas, it grossed another $20.4-M from 50 markets for a foreign box office take of $59.8-M and global total of $150.3-M.

Nancy Meyers’ The Intern also held nicely in its 2nd frame, grossing $11.6-M for a North American box office take of $36.5-M for Warner Bros, a unit of Time Warner (NYSE:TWX)

Fox sequel Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials rounded out the Top 5, grossing $7.7-M in its 3rd frame for a domestic box office of $63.2-M, Globally, the movie passed the $200-M mark after grossing $13.7-M internationally from 58 markets for a foreign box office of $147.8-M and worldwide take of $211 million through Sunday.

Johnny Depp’s Black Mass placed # 6 in is 3rd weekend with $5.9-M for a domestic total of $52.5-M.

Everest followed with $5.5-M in its 2nd weekend in wide release for a North American box office of $33.2-M. Overseas it grossed $16.4-M from 65 markets to the $100-M mark internationally. Through Sunday, the film’s worldwide box office total is $136.5-M.

New openings at the US specialty box office

Davis Guggenheim’s acclaimed documentary He Named Me Malala, the story of Malala Yousafzai, who became the youngest Nobel Peace Prize winner in history after she was shot by the Taliban for insisting upon an education. The film opened to $56,000 from 4 theaters in New York and Los Angeles for a solid location average of $14,000. Next weekend, Fox Searchlight expands Malala into more than 400 theaters.

The Metropolitan Opera’s The Met: Live in HD kicked off its 10th season with Saturday’s live transmission of Verdi’s Il Trovatore, which earned a strong $2-M from 900 screens.

Have some fun, see a movie this week.

HeffX-LTN

Paul Ebeling

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