Newcomers Underpreform as “The Martian” Regains Top Spot at Box Office

By Kip Mooney • On • In News News 0

BOX OFFICE REPORT October 23-25, 2015(estimates from BoxOfficeMojo.com)

TOP 51. The Martian ($15.9 million)2. Goodsebumps ($15.5 million)3. Bride of Spies ($11.3 million)4. Last Witch Hunter ($10.8 million)5. Hotel Transylvania 2 ($19.0 million)

Unimpressed by any of the major newcomers, audiences instead returned to Mars. The Martian once again took the top spot at the box office with an estimated $15.9 million. That's the first time a movie has regained the No. 1 position since Guardians of the Galaxy last summer.

Goosebumps slipped slightly to No. 2, losing only 34.4 percent of its debut weekend. That's a tremendous hold, especially for a live-action kids movie. Bridge of Spies experienced a similar phenomenon. It only fell 26.1 percent. Though this isn't quite as surprising since the film is clearly aimed at an older audience, who won't feel the need to rush out and see it the second it comes out.

Vin Diesel's silly supernatural film The Last Witch Hunter managed the best of the new releases. Still, it only managed to scrounge up $10.8 million, good for fourth place. That's almost as lousy a premiere as his notorious 2008 flop Babylon A.D. So much for that sequel he kept hoping to make. Hotel Transylvania 2 scared away the rest of the competition, rounding out the top 5. 

Outside the top 5: - This Weekend's Indie Champ: Suffragette, the Oscar hopeful about the women who petitioned for the right to vote in the U.S. It opened on four screens and averaged $19,250.

- Audiences just don't feel the same way about ghosts like they used to. The last film in the Paranormal Activity franchise went out with a whimper. The Ghost Dimension debuted down in sixth place with only $8.2 million.

- That was still better than Rock the Kasbah or Jem and the Holograms, which will both go down as two of the worst openings of all time. Yes, even worse than this year's We Are Your Friends.

Next week: Only two new releases, and neither is gaining much traction. Burnt, the dramedy featuring Bradley Cooper as a chef, goes up against Our Brand is Crisis, about rival consultants (Sandra Bullock and Billy Bob Thornton) facing off in a Latin American election. Could either of these make No. 1? Sure, but I think The Martian or Goosebumps will take the top spot.

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About Kip Mooney

Kip Mooney
Like many film critics born during and after the 1980s, my hero is Roger Ebert. The man was already the best critic in the nation when he won the Pulitzer in 1975, but his indomitable spirit during and after his recent battle with cancer keeps me coming back to read not only his reviews but his insightful commentary on the everyday. But enough about a guy you know a lot about. I knew I was going to be a film critic—some would say a snob—in middle school, when I had to voraciously defend my position that The Royal Tenenbaums was only a million times better than Adam Sandler’s remake of Mr. Deeds. From then on, I would seek out Wes Anderson’s films and avoid Sandler’s like the plague. Still, I like to think of myself as a populist, and I’ll be just as likely to see the next superhero movie as the next Sundance sensation. The thing I most deplore in a movie is laziness. I’d much rather see movies with big ambitions try and fail than movies with no ambitions succeed at simply existing. I’m also a big advocate of fun-bad movies like The Room and most of Nicolas Cage’s work. In the past, I’ve written for The Dallas Morning News and the North Texas Daily, which I edited for a semester. I also contributed to Dallas-based Pegasus News, which in the circle of life, is now part of The Dallas Morning News, where I got my big break in 2007. Eventually, I’d love to write and talk about film full-time, but until that’s a viable career option, I work as an auditor for Wells Fargo. I hope to one day meet my hero, go to the Toronto International Film Festival, and compete on Jeopardy. Until then, I’m excited to share my love of film with you.

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