Weekend Wrap-Up

By Tim Briody

October 11, 2015

Boy, Pan really crashed and burned, didn't it?

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An October that was supposed to bring respectability back to the box office is derailed for a weekend as we have an outright bomb and a disappointing expansion, but there’s good news in the limited release department.

The number one film this weekend is The Martian, holding fantastically with $37 million, down just 32% from its opening weekend and sending it over the $100 million mark with $108 million after ten days in theaters. The third film in the Matt Damon Must Be Rescued franchise (after Saving Private Ryan and Interstellar), the novel adaptation is the film of the early fall. With 2013’s Gravity being one of the more obvious comparisons to The Martian, it’s not doing as amazingly in the legs department (Gravity fell on 23% in its second weekend to $43.1 million and had earned $122.3 million after two weekends), but is still no slouch. The Martian is a very strong contender to pass the $200 million mark over the next few weeks.

Hotel Transylvania 2 takes second place again with a third weekend of $20.3 million, off 39% from last week. It’s now got a tidy $116.8 million after three weekends and has its sights set on matching the $148.3 million from the first movie from 2012. It still has the rest of October all to itself until The Peanuts Movie opens November 6th, so it seems to be very likely that Hotel Transylvania 2 will find itself easily over the $150 million mark by the end of the month.




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Third place finds the weekend’s biggest new release, Pan. An attempt to origin story Peter Pan containing some…questionable casting and style choices, Pan could only manage $15 million on the weekend. This wouldn’t be the worst news ever had it not cost $150 million to make and was panned met with terrible reviews (23% Fresh at Rotten Tomatoes). It stars Hugh Jackman, Rooney Mara and Garrett Hedlund, with unknown Levi Miller in the titular role. Despite a heavy ad blitz, The Martian was still far and away the choice of most moviegoers this weekend. We’ll apply the usual “maybe the international box office will help” disclaimer here, but domestically, at least, Pan is the flop of the fall so far.

The Intern actually holds in fourth place for the weekend with another $8.6 million, giving it $49.5 million after three weekends of box office. The Robert De Niro/Anne Hathaway comedy is playing solidly to older audiences who often take their time getting the theaters, as it only dropped 26% from last weekend, the best hold among the films in wide release last weekend. It’s headed towards the $75 million mark, meaning there will be more of Nancy Meyers' brand of adult comedy down the line. I know you’re excited.

Oscar contener Sicario earns $7.3 million in its second weekend of wide release, down 39% from last weekend, giving it $26.7 million after roughly a month in theaters. It’s weird to point this out, but its Oscar stock is probably lower than it was two weeks ago, because that’s how these things work. Still, the gritty border drama starring Emily Blunt, Benicio del Toro and Josh Brolin is an early clubhouse leader. This is expected to be a very deep year for awards, so we’ll have to see what develops over the next two months.


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