Ridley Scott’s crowd-pleasing survival drama The Martian went back to the top of the US box office over the weekend while Danny Boyle’s acclaimed Steve Jobs biopic expanded nationwide to disappointing numbers.
Matt Damon’s turn as a wisecracking astronaut who finds himself stranded on Mars helped The Martian reclaim the top spot in its fourth week of release with a solid $15.9m (£10.3m), which now gives it a total of $166.4m. The weekend added another $30m globally to the film’s international tally of $384.4m.
The Martian’s continued success came at a price for the week’s new releases. While it had been achieving strong numbers in limited release, a nationwide expansion of Danny Boyle’s Oscar-tipped drama Steve Jobs flopped, with only $7.2m from more than 2,400 cinemas. This number is heavily swayed towards independent venues in bigger cities and is especially underwhelming when compared with The Social Network’s initial bow of $22.4m.
The film, which dramatises key moments in Apple co-founder’s career, stars Michael Fassbender and Kate Winslet.
Halloween-tinged genre titles The Last Witch Hunter and Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension also failed to inspire audiences. Vin Diesel’s fantasy horror The Last Witch Hunter, which also stars Michael Caine and Elijah Wood, made only $10.8m – worrying news for Lionsgate, given a reported budget of around $75m.
Paranormal Activity films used to be a reliable draw around Halloween (the third in the series opened with $52m), but their popularity has dwindled, so closing the saga was a smart decision. Paramount used the release to trial a new strategy whereby home audiences are offered films sooner than usual. This meant many chains refused to show the film and it ended up in only around half the number of cinemas as the last offering. It made $8.2m, a low for the franchise.
In a busy weekend, there were two casualties that didn’t crack the top 10, despite being given wide releases in more than 2,000 cinemas each. Rock the Kasbah, starring Bill Murray, Zooey Deschanel and Bruce Willis, made $1.5m, while a live-action version of the 80s cartoon Jem and the Holograms pulled in $1.3m. The two films have entered the hall of infamy for all-time worst openings.
North American box office 16-18 October
1. The Martian: $15.9m. Total: $166.4m
2. Goosebumps: $15.5m. Total: $43.7m
3. Bridge of Spies: $11.4m. Total: $32.6m
4. The Last Witch Hunter: $10.8m – NEW
5. Hotel Transylvania 2: $9m. Total: $148.3m
6. Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension: $8.2m – NEW
7. Steve Jobs: $7.2m. Total: $9.9m
8. Crimson Peak: $5.5m. Total: $22.4m
9. The Intern: $3.8m. Total: $64.7m
10. Sicario: $2.9m. Total: $39.3m
