‘The Martian’ tops a scary-bad movie weekend
Newcomers ‘Burnt’ and ‘Our Brand Is Crisis’ underperform amid trick-or-treating.
Potential moviegoers found their treats largely outside of theaters this past weekend as new releases “Burnt” with Bradley Cooper, “Our Brand Is Crisis” with Sandra Bullock and “Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse” all suffered poor ticket sales, leaving the domestic box office with its worst Halloween weekend in 16 years.
Holdovers nabbed the top four spots. “The Martian,” directed by Ridley Scott and starring Matt Damon and Jessica Chastain, sat atop the box office again in its fifth weekend. The 20th Century Fox release made an estimated $11.4 million in the U.S. and Canada, raising its starry total to about $182.8 million.
The adaptation of the popular R.L. Stine book series “Goosebumps” finished second, grabbing about $10.2 million in its third weekend. The Sony release starring Jack Black has raked in $57.1 million.
Rounding out the top four were Disney’s “Bridge of Spies,” which had $8.1 million in weekend ticket sales, and Sony’s animated “Hotel Transylvania 2,” which pulled in $5.8 million.
Of the new releases, Cooper’s turn as a self-involved chef in “Burnt” fared the best. The Weinstein Co. R-rated comedy took the fifth spot with about $5 million — about $2 million below the low end of expectations. The film did not pull in its target audience — women and foodies — as well as producers had hoped.
Those who did see it were largely unimpressed: The film received a B-minus grade from audience polling firm Cinema Score and positive reviews from only 29% of the critics on Rotten Tomatoes.
“It was a tough weekend, and we were hoping for more,” said Erik Lomis, Weinstein’s chief of distribution. “It’s just a disappointment when we all work hard on this film, a passion project, and Bradley is great in it.” Lomis
said the film’s modest cost, under $20 million, and its potential to do well internationally will help.
“Our Brand Is Crisis,” starring Bullock as a political strategist enlisted to help an embattled South American presidential candidate, eked out a spot in the top 10 with about $3.4 million, about half of what had been projected heading into the weekend.
“We’re proud of the movie,” said Jeff Goldstein, Warner Bros. executive vice president of distribution. “But I had higher expectations, and we’re obviously disappointed.”
Critics and audiences alike weren’t kind. The film got a C-plus grade on Cinema Score, and only 33% of critics on Rotten Tomatoes gave it a positive review.
The low turnout for “Crisis” follows the studio’s high-profile flop of “Pan.” Goldstein said he hoped word of mouth among “upmarket and older” viewers will help Bullock’s film.
“Crisis” and “Burnt” follow others that have struggled to pull older audiences into theaters, including the high-wire drama “The Walk,” which has grossed $9.9 million, and the biopic “Steve Jobs,” which has grossed only $14.5 million.
Though spooky movies have traditionally been boxoffice leaders in Halloweens past, “Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse,” an Rrated horror-comedy full of raunch and splatter, performed poorly. The film, which cost an estimated $15 million, grossed about $1.8 million for 12th place.
The lackluster performance was partly attributed to Paramount Pictures’ decision to bring the movie to home video more quickly, prompting some theater chains to refuse to show it. “Scouts Guide” will be available as video-on-demand 17 days after the film’s North American theater count drops below 300. The real question will be how much money the film can make in the VOD market.