Box Office: The Martian Crosses $100 Million And Easily Defeats Newcomer Pan

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Last week, I gave an early estimation that Ridley Scott’s The Martian would most likely gross $170 million in the U.S. before it leaves theaters. But in its first ten days it has already passed $100 million. A year ago, Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar had only made $77 million after ten days of release and would finish with $188 million. That space drama had the benefit of IMAX surcharges. Scott’s space drama has the benefit of 3D surcharges. There are more 3D viewing screens than IMAX viewing screens, so it would lean to benefit The Martian‘s domestic total in the long run. For its second weekend the film only lost 31.9% of its audience, an impressive hold. Granted, its only major competition was Adam Sandler’s Hotel Transylvania 2, which finished just north of $20 million.

The biggest new release was Warner Bros.’ Pan. The $150 million production opened lower than industry expectations. The studio was hoping for $20 million. It got $15.5 million. This is yet another bomb for Warner Bros. when looking at cost-to-earnings ratios. It joins the likes of Reese Witherspoon’s Hot Pursuit, the Wachowskis’ Jupiter Ascending, Run All Night starring Liam Neeson, HBO’s Entourage movie, and We Are Your Friends, which had the poorest opening numbers for a movie debuting on 2,000 or more screens all time.

The middle of the top ten had holdovers The Intern, Sicario and Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials making their way down the list having played three weeks to a month in theaters. Don’t look for the Maze Runner sequel to reach the success of the original (at least in the U.S.). Lionsgate’s platform release strategy for Sicario looks to be paying off as it added another $7.35 million to its total while only playing on 2,620 screens.

Expanding from 448 theaters to 2,509 helped Tri-Star’s The Walk net a sizable gain in attendance (more than a 113% increase), but the subject seems to be a tough sell for audiences. The true-life story of high-wire artist’s Philippe Petit’s insane stunt that had him walk a tightrope between the World Trade Center towers, should be an epic scene on the big screen. But the award-winning documentary Man on Wire is just as enthralling, and it’s streaming on Netflix.

In limited release, both Fox Searchlight’s He Named Me Malala and 99 Homes added screens and finished with $685k and $630.8k respectively. But the biggest news is the performance of Universal’s Steve Jobs. Playing in only New York and Los Angeles on a total of four screens, it had a $521k weekend. Its $130,250 per-screen average is the best for any release of 2015. Yes, even the record-setting Jurassic World. The biopic will have another theater expansion for its second weekend before it goes nationwide on October 23rd.

Looking at the upcoming weekend The Martian will have to contend with Sony’s Goosebumps, the latest Steven Spielberg/Tom Hanks collaboration Bridge of Spies, Guillermo Del Toro’s gothic romance Crimson Peak and the Christian sports drama Woodlawn. Goosebumps should take the weekend with a $25 million opening. Don’t be surprised if Woodlawn finishes with double-digit earnings, based on the success of Tri-Star’s War Room earlier this year. I fear that Bridge of Spies will be overlooked by general audiences, and those wanting a cheap scare may not be the right demographic for Crimson Peak.

Top 10 below.

01. The Martian – $37 Million ($108.7m)
02. Hotel Transylvania 2 – $20.3 Million ($116.8m)
03. Pan – $15.5 Million
04. The Intern – $8.66 Million ($49.5m)
05. Sicario – $7.35 Million ($26.7m)
06. Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials – $5.25 Million ($70.6m)
07. The Walk – $3.65 Million ($6.36m)
08. Black Mass – $3.1 Million ($57.5m)
09. Everest – $3 Million ($38.2m)
10. The Visit – $2.4 Million ($61m)

Travis Leamons is one of the Inside Pulse Originals and currently holds the position of Managing Editor at Inside Pulse Movies. He's told that the position is his until he's dead or if "The Boss" can find somebody better. I expect the best and I give the best. Here's the beer. Here's the entertainment. Now have fun. That's an order!