Box office for ‘The Martian’ is out of this world
Matt Damon continues to float well above ‘Pan’ and other competition
Faith, trust and pixie dust couldn’t save Pan from a disastrous first weekend.
The $150 million Peter Pan origin story brought in only $15.5 million at the box office for third place, while space epic The
Martian claimed No. 1 again, according to tracking firm Rentrak.
Starring Hugh Jackman, Garrett Hedlund and newcomer Levi Miller as the boy who wouldn’t grow up, Joe Wright’s Pan was plagued by negative media coverage going into its opening after being pushed back from a July release date and earning criticism for casting white actress Rooney Mara as Native American princess Tiger Lily.
“There were a lot of things going against it,” says Rentrak senior media analyst Paul Dergarabedian. “The family-film marketplace is always hungry for entertainment, but coming against a very formidable foe (in
Hotel Transylvania 2), that may have been part of the reason” it disappointed.
After scoring the second-best October opening ever last weekend, Martian exceeded expecta- tions with an out-of-this-world $37 million, blasting its total to $108.7 million. The feel-good drama is bolstered by Oscar talk for director Ridley Scott and star Matt Damon.
“Audiences are just walking out blown away by what they saw,” Dergarabedian says. With a dip of only 32%, “that’s a tiny drop for a movie that opened that big.” In second place, animated
Transylvania’s family-friendly frights drew $20.3 million, bringing its three-week tally to an impressive $116.8 million.
The Intern and Sicario nabbed fourth and fifth place with $8.7 million and $7.4 million, respectively. Expanding to more than 2,500 theaters after a limited run, Robert Zemeckis’ highwire spectacle The Walk strung together a lousy $3.7 million ($6.4 million total) for seventh. Danny Boyle’s awards hopeful
Steve Jobs was robust as expected its first weekend. Playing in just four theaters in New York and Los Angeles, the voluble tech drama written by Aaron Sorkin earned $521,000 with a per-screen average of $130,000. Starring Michael Fassbender as the late Apple co-founder, Jobs expands nationwide Oct. 23.
Final numbers are expected Monday.