Weekend Wrap-Up: Box Office is in Crisis Mode

November 2, 2015

Our Brand is Crisis

Most people expected the box office to be really weak this past weekend, but I don't think anyone anticipated this. How bad was this past weekend? All three new releases missed the Mendoza line* and there were no new releases in the top five. The overall box office was just $75 million, which was the lowest for the year and the fourth worst weekend in the past decade. This represents a 28% drop-off from last week and a 21% drop-off from the same weekend last year. 2015's overall lead over 2014 shrunk from 5.2% to 4.7%. The overall lead fell by $40 million at $8.69 billion to $8.31 billion. This is reason to panic, or it would be if Spectre wasn't opening on Friday. The film is breaking records in the U.K. and should be an explosive hit here. Hopefully it will do well enough that we can pretend the past two weeks never happened.

The Martian remained in first place for the second weekend in a row and the fourth time during its run. It earned $11.72 million over the weekend for a total of $183.12 million after a month of release. It is on pace to get to $200 million domestically, assuming Spectre doesn't completely destroy it at the box office. Even third place with $5 million next weekend will likely be enough to get to the double-century mark.

Goosebumps remained in second place with $9.87 million over the weekend for a three-week total of $56.76 million. The film cost $58 million to make, so it will cross that total very soon. As long as it can do as well internationally as it did domestically, it will break even in its home market run. If it finds a bigger audience internationally, then it might break even before it gets to the home market. It doesn't open in most major markets until December, so we will have to wait a long time to figure out how well it will do worldwide.

Bridge of Spies has spent three weeks in third place earning $8.39 million this past weekend for a running tally of $45.53 million. It should hold on better than most this coming weekend, becoming a midlevel hit in the process. It is not doing particularly well internationally, but it should break even sometime during the home market.

Hotel Transylvania 2 rose into fourth place with $5.86 million over the weekend for a total of $156.04 million after five weeks of release. Add in its international numbers and the film has already broken even.

The Last Witch Hunter rounded out the top five with $5.16 million over the weekend for a total of $19.03 million after two. It is on pace to reach $30 million, or at least come close, but that's still a disaster for a movie that cost $80 million to make.

The "best" of the new releases was Burnt, which only managed sixth place with $5.01 million. Its per theater average was just $1,666, which means theater owners will want to drop this as fast as possible. Given its reviews, I don't think moviegoers will miss it.

Our Brand is Crisis only managed eighth place with $3.24 million over the weekend. Its per theater average was just $1,471 and its reviews were terrible, so it will likely disappear from theaters very quickly.

Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse missed the top ten with just $1.84 million over the weekend. The film had the worst per theater average of the three new releases at just $1,220 while its reviews were in-between the other two films at 32% positive. It too will disappear from theaters within a few weeks.

Looking in on the sophomore class, we find Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension in seventh place with $3.44 million over the weekend for a total of $13.55 million after ten days of release. It might not get to $20 million domestically, which is a mere fraction of the franchise's average. Further down the list, much further down the list was Jem and the Holograms, which only managed 19th place with $388,000 over the weekend for a total of $2.03 million after ten days of release. Had the movie earned $2.03 million during its opening weekend, it still would have been a bomb. Rock the Kasbah fell even faster plummeting to 22nd place with $355,000 over the weekend for a total of $2.43 million after two. The less said about this result, the better.

*Mendoza line - movies which earn less than $2,000 per theater on their opening weekend.

Filed under: Weekend Wrap-up, Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension, Hotel Transylvania 2, Spectre, Goosebumps, The Martian, Scouts Guide to the Zombie Apocalypse, Bridge of Spies, Burnt, The Last Witch Hunter, Rock the Kasbah, Our Brand is Crisis, Jem and the Holograms, Paranormal Activity