The weekend’s top two movies remained the same for a second week, with Ridley Scott’s The Martian staying on top of the weekend rankings and the animated feature Hotel Transylvania 2 continuing its surprisingly strong run in theaters.
Scott’s adaptation of Andy Weir’s bestselling novel added another $37 million to its impressive tally in U.S. theaters, as well as an additional $56.8 million internationally for the weekend. So far, the film has earned $108.7 million domestically and $226.5 million worldwide, and has the second-best October opening of all time, sitting just behind Gravity (which went on to earn $274 million domestically and $723.1 million worldwide).
Director Genndy Tartakovsky’s Hotel Transylvania 2 is also making a strong showing in theaters after setting the September opening-weekend record last month. Co-written by Adam Sandler and Robert Smigel and featuring an all-star cast of voice actors that includes Sandler, Mel Brooks, Steve Buscemi, and a long list of other notable actors, Hotel Transylvania 2 earned another $20.3 million domestically over the weekend, bringing its total gross to $116.8 million in U.S. theaters and $207.7 million worldwide. At its current pace, the film is likely to overtake the original Hotel Transylvania to become the highest-grossing film to come out of Sony Pictures Animation.
The only new release to break into the top ten films for the weekend was director Joe Wright’s Pan, which offers an origin story of sorts for Peter Pan’s nemesis, Captain Hook, and stars Hugh Jackman, Garrett Hedlund, Rooney Mara, and Levi Miller. The film, which reportedly cost $150 million to make, managed to earn just $15.5 million in its first weekend in theaters. Overwhelmingly negative reviews from critics and general audiences alike aren’t likely to help Pan get over this early obstacle, and studio Warner Bros. Pictures is now relying on a big international opening for the film to right the ship.
The rest of the weekend’s top ten was populated by films continuing their runs in theaters. In fourth place was It’s Complicated writer/director Nancy Meyers’ The Intern, starring Robert DeNiro and Anne Hathaway. The film added another $8.7 million over the weekend, bringing its total gross to $49.8 million so far — which isn’t bad for a film that cost an estimated $35 million to make.
Ranking just after The Intern was the drug-war thriller Sicario, which earned another $7.4 million for the weekend and brought its domestic total to $26.7 million. The film is in its fourth weekend in theaters, but only its second weekend after being released wide domestically. Budgeted at $30 million, the film stars Emily Blunt, Benicio Del Toro, and Josh Brolin, and has earned rave reviews during its slow expansion in theaters.
Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials earned another $5.3 million over the weekend, which was good for sixth place, while Robert Zemeckis’ The Walk continued its disappointing run with just $3.7 million for its second weekend in theaters. This was the high-wire drama’s first weekend in wide release, but the increased number of theaters screening the film didn’t seem to improve its prospects. The Walk has earned just $6.4 million so far.
The remaining films to make the weekend’s top-ten ranking included Black Mass ($3.1 million), Everest ($3 million), and The Visit ($2.4 million).
It’s worth noting that Universal Pictures’ Steve Jobs was released in just four theaters over the weekend ahead of its wide release in a few weeks. The much-anticipated biopic earned $521,000 from the four-theater weekend, which averages out to an impressive $130,236 per theater and makes it the highest-grossing limited release of the year based on per-theater earnings. Steve Jobs will expand to 60 theaters over the upcoming weekend, and then have its wide release in the U.S. on October 23.
Next weekend’s big releases include the aforementioned, expanded release of Steve Jobs, as well as Guillermo del Toro’s long-awaited gothic horror Crimson Peak and the family-friendly scary movie Goosebumps. Also arriving in select theaters next weekend is True Detective director Cary Fukunaga’s Beasts of No Nation, which is being released simultaneously on Netflix and in a small number of theaters nationwide.
