“Kasbah” and “Jem” now rank among the worst openings of all time, and “Paranormal” missed expectations after weeks of anticipation over its divisive distribution strategy. The Martian held on stronger than its main compeition Goosebumps.
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“Bridge of Spies”, Steven Spielberg’s well-received Cold War spy drama starring Tom Hanks, held onto third place for a second week running with US$11.4 million. The latest attempt by star Vin Diesel to launch a new franchise outside of the wildly successful Fast and Furious series opened in 3,082 theaters Friday where it hunted down an estimated $10.8 million, good enough for fourth place.
Premiering in fourth place was “The Last Witch Hunter”, with a $10.8 million take projected.
Of the new art house releases, Focus Features’ historical drama “Suffragette” starring Cary Mulligan earned an estimated $77,000 in just four theaters for a per-screen average of $19,250, the weekend’s highest.
Adam Sandler’s ‘Hotel Transylvania 2’ beat its 2012 predecessor’s total gross this weekend with an estimated $9M in its fifth weekend, to take the fifth spot. The film will be available digitally 17 days after it leaves cinemas as opposed to the usual 90 days. The nation’s second-largest exhibitor, AMC Entertainment Holdings, overperformed with the title after it was only major circuit to show it. But the Universal film had to settle for a seventh-place finish after grossing $7.3 million from 2,493 theaters.
Next week will be a relatively low-key week that sees awards hopefuls Burnt (starring Bradley Cooper) and Our Brand is Crisis (Sandra Bullock) opening wide, alongside a lesser opening for horror comedy Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse which is under the same boycott as Paranormal Activity was.
Two other new releases, “Rock the Kasbah” and “Jem and the Holograms”, both fell flat, earning around $1.5 million and $1.3 million respectively. The top three films stayed the same as last weekend, though a few shuffling occurred, and no film in wide release managed to reach a $5,000 average. Somehow, Jem may end up profitable; the film had a relatively meager $5 million budget, which was spent nearly entirely on face glitter. “The Last Witch Hunter” failed to impress critics or audiences, earning positive reviews from a paltry 14 percent of critics on Rotten Tomatoes and a B-minus from CinemaScore.
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“There’s no question it cost us a lot of box office that major circuits wouldn’t play the film”, said Rob Moore, vice-chairman of Paramount Pictures.
