As expected, last week’s top two movies continued to dominate the box office this weekend. Meanwhile, the three new nationwide releases opened to peanuts.
‘Spectre‘ topped both the domestic and international charts once again – but that will change next weekend when ‘The Hunger Games’ takes the stage to bring its series to a close. After slipping 50% from its debut, the 24th entry to the 007 franchise pulled in an estimated $35.4 million. After ten days, the fourth film with Daniel Craig has earned $130.7 million. As well as it’s doing in North America, the movie’s overseas profits will make the $245 million picture profitable. So far, it has accumulated $413.1 million from international showings. Worldwide, ‘Spectre’ now sits with $543.8 million.
Also into its second week, ‘The Peanuts Movie‘ held onto the #2 spot. Dropping 45% week-over-week, the 3D CG-animated family flick grossed $24.2 million, which pushed its ten-day total up to $82.4 million. The $99 million picture isn’t off to a great start internationally, but that’s not to say that it won’t find success overseas. So far, it’s playing in less than a dozen markets, so it still has some ground to cover.
The first of the weekend’s new movies landed in the #3 spot. From 2,603 locations, ‘Love the Coopers‘ pulled in an estimated $8.4 million. A quick glance at the less-than-impressive $3,227 per-screen average points to this being a flop. However, because it’s the only Christmas-themed family movie opening this year (I don’t count ‘Krampus’ or ‘The Night Before’ as vying for the same audience), its holdover should be a little stronger than expected.
Seven weeks into its run, ‘The Martian‘ is still in the Top 5. With a 26% week-over-week decline, the Ridley Scott film added another $6.7 million to its $207.4 million domestic run. ‘The Martian’ has now grossed $477.8 million worldwide.
CBS Films’ ‘The 33‘ rounded out the Top 5. It turns out that audiences didn’t much care to pay to see the Chilean miner story that they already saw unfold live on TV several years ago. From 2,452 locations, the Antonio Banderas picture dug up $5.8 million, for a low per-screen average of $2,384.
The big surprise of the weekend was the limited release of the Bollywood musical ‘Prem Ratan Dhan Payo.’ From 286 locations, the three-hour movie cracked the Top 10. It landed in the #8 position with $2.4 million and a per-screen average of $8,392. Think of how much more it would have made if not for that lengthy runtime.
The worst-performing new release was the cookie-cutter sports drama ‘My All American.’ Although it opened on 1,565 screens, the Aaron Eckhart vehicle only scored $1.3 million for 12th place. That equates to a mere $889 per-screen.
Angelina Jolie’s new film also disappointed. From ten locations, ‘By the Sea‘ opened to $95,440 and a per-screen average of $9,544. Produced with a budget of $10 million, Universal will try to recoup some of those costs by expanding it quickly.
Top 10:
1. ‘Spectre’ (Sony) – $35,400,000
2. ‘The Peanuts Movie’ (Fox) – $24,200,000
3. ‘Love the Coopers’ (CBS) – $8,400,000
4. ‘The Martian’ (Fox) – $6,725,000
5. ‘The 33’ (Warner Bros.) – $5,845,000
6. ‘Goosebumps’ (Sony) – $4,650,000
7. ‘Bridge of Spies’ (Buena Vista) – $4,289,000
8. ‘Prem Ratan Dhan Payo’ (FIP) – $2,400,000
9. ‘Hotel Transylvania 2’ (Sony) – $2,350,000
10. ‘The Last Witch Hunter’ (Lionsgate) – $1,500,000
