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 percent (best in the top 10) to an estimated $11.4 million, bringing its total to $182.8 million. Second place belonged to Goosebumps which fell 34 percent in its third weekend to an estimated $10.2 million bringing its cume up to $57 million. In third place was the Steven Spielberg/Tom Hanks collaboration, Bridge of Spies which slipped only 29 percent to $8 million, according to estimates, bringing its total to $45 million. Another holdover landed in fourth place, the Sony kids flick Hotel Transylvania 2 which made an estimated $5.8 million bringing its total to date up to $156 million.
Finally in fifth place we have the first of our disappointing openings of the weekend, Bradley Cooper’s Burnt which opened to an estimated $5 million from a wide 3,003 theaters for a per screen average of only $1,678. Cooper’s last film, Aloha opened in May to $9.6 million 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 percent to an estimated $4.75 million and Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension falling 57 percent to an estimated $3.45 million. Totals stand at $18.6 million and $13.5 million 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 $55.8 million (Gravity in 2013) and $39.1 million (The Heat, also in 2013). This weekend, however, Our Brand Is Crisis opened to an estimated $3.4 million 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 $3.4 million? 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 $3.1 million bringing its total up to $27.7 million, and Steve Jobs which fell off a cliff dropping 64 percent to an estimated $2.6 million, bringing its cume up to a mediocre $14.5 million.
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 $1.77 million 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 $57.8 million which was down 22.7 percent from last year when Ouija held on to the top spot with $10.7 million; and off a remarkable 50 percent from 2013 when Ender’s Game debuted in the top spot with $27 million.
Compared to projections, Our Brand is Crisis, Burnt and Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse all came in below Gitesh’s respective forecasts of $7 million, $7 million and $5 million.
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