Weekend Box Office (October 30 - November 1, 2015)


by Sujit Chawla

THIS WEEKEND The box office looked very similar to last weekend despite three new films opening in wide release, two of them with big name stars who suffered some of the worst openings of their careers.

The top three films all stayed in the same spot as last weekend. On a weekend where there were new films starring Bradley Cooper and Sandra Bullock, the top three films were holdovers. Staying in first place for the second straight weekend, and the fourth time in five weekends, was the sci-fi extravaganza The Martian which dipped a slim 27.5% (best in the top 10) to an estimated $11.4M, bringing its total to $182.8M. Second place belonged to Goosebumps which fell 34% in its third weekend to an estimated $10.2M bringing its cume up to $57M. In third place was the Steven Spielberg/Tom Hanks collaboration, Bridge of Spies which slipped only 29% to $8M, according to estimates, bringing its total to $45M. Another holdover landed in fourth place, the Sony kids flick Hotel Transylvania 2 which made an estimated $5.8M bringing its total to date up to $156M.

Finally in fifth place we have the first of our disappointing openings of the weekend, Bradley Cooper's Burnt which opened to an estimated $5M from a wide 3,003 theaters for a per screen average of only $1,678. Cooper's last film, Aloha opened in May to $9.6M which puts him on a two-game losing streak. A B- CinemaScore does not bode well for the future. Big stars in prestige films don't really seem to be doing well so far this season.

A couple of films in their second weekends came crashing down with The Last Witch Hunter sliding 56% to an estimated $4.75M and Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension falling 57% to an estimated $3.45M. Totals stand at $18.6M and $13.5M respectively.

Did you think Burnt's opening weekend was bad? How about the latest from Academy Award winner Sandra Bullock? Her last two live-action films opened to $55.8M (Gravity in 2013) and $39.1M (The Heat, also in 2013). This weekend, however, Our Brand Is Crisis opened to an estimated $3.4M from 2,202 theaters for a per screen average of $1,558. Do you know the last time a Sandra Bullock filmed opened on over 1,000 screens and made less than $3.4M? How about, never. This is just a pure flop. Once again, a prestige pic from a big star failed to connect with audiences. And a C+ CinemaScore means this one will be hitting On Demand pretty soon.

Rounding out the top 10 were Crimson Peak with an estimated $3.1M bringing its total up to $27.7M, and Steve Jobs which fell off a cliff dropping 64% to an estimated $2.6M, bringing its cume up to a mediocre $14.5M.

Oh, and remember how in the first paragraph I said there were three films that opened wide this weekend? You have to go all the way down to number 12 to find the third one. Paramount's Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse bottomed out with a pitiful $1.77M opening, according to estimates, with a per screen average of only $1,173. But hey, at least this one didn't have big stars in it.

The top ten films grossed an estimated $57.8M which was down 22.7% from last year when Ouija held on to the top spot with $10.7M; and off a remarkable 50% from 2013 when Ender's Game debuted in the top spot with $27M.

Compared to projections, Our Brand is Crisis, Burnt and Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse all came in below Gitesh's respective forecasts of $7M, $7M and $5M.

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Be sure to check back on Monday for final figures and again on Thursday for a complete summary, including projections, for next weekend when Spectre and The Peanuts Movie both open on what should be an explosive weekend.


# Title Oct 30 - Nov 1 Oct 23 - 25 % Chg. Theaters Weeks AVG Cumulative Distributor
1 The Martian $ 11,715,097 $ 15,732,907 -25.5 3,218 5 $ 3,640 $ 183,121,850 Fox
2 Goosebumps 9,867,077 15,525,901 -36.4 3,618 3 2,727 56,761,492 Sony
3 Bridge of Spies 8,389,284 11,374,203 -26.2 2,873 3 2,920 45,531,900 Disney
4 Hotel Transylvania 2 5,860,784 8,883,348 -34.0 2,962 6 1,979 156,035,264 Sony
5 The Last Witch Hunter 5,162,398 10,812,861 -52.3 3,082 2 1,675 19,025,259 Lionsgate
6 Burnt 5,002,521 3,003 1 1,666 5,002,521 Weinstein Co.
7 Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension 3,435,120 8,070,493 -57.4 1,530 2 2,245 13,554,743 Paramount
8 Our Brand Is Crisis 3,238,433 2,202 1 1,471 3,238,433 Warner Bros.
9 Crimson Peak 3,072,100 5,666,525 -45.8 2,112 3 1,455 27,708,080 Universal
10 Steve Jobs 2,691,360 7,105,735 -62.1 2,493 4 1,080 14,652,043 Universal
Top 5 $ 40,994,640 $ 62,329,220 -34.2
Top 10 58,434,174 89,803,867 -34.9
Top 10 vs. 2014 58,434,174 74,844,096 -21.9
Top 10 vs. 2013 58,434,174 115,987,099 -49.6
Below the Top 10:
The Intern 2,407,280 3,787,039 -36.4 1,521 6 1,583 68,562,024 Warner Bros.
Scouts Guide To The Zombie Apocalypse 1,841,007 1,509 1 1,220 1,841,007 Paramount
Sicario 1,719,573 2,844,855 -39.6 1,073 7 1,603 42,076,784 Lionsgate


Last Updated: November 1, 2015 at 9:00PM ET


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