Weekend Box Office: Abnormal Activity

All five of this weekend’s new movies flopped, leaving plenty of room for a four-week-old blockbuster to return to the top spot at the box office.

Our first and second place winners are so close that they could easily flip-flop positions when the weekend actuals are announced later today. For now, it appears that ‘The Martian‘ has returned to the #1 position. If that stands, this weekend’s $15.9 million draw will make it the top movie in North America for three of the four weeks that it has played. The $108 million sci-fi hit now sits with a domestic total of $166.3 million and a worldwide total of $384.3 million.

Coming in close behind was last week’s winner, Sony’s ‘Goosebumps‘. The film’s 34% week-over-week decline in attendance resulted in $15.5 million. The $58 million freaky family flick sits with a domestic ten-day total of $43.7 million. As of now, it’s only playing in a few international markets.

With a very light 26% decline, Steven Spielberg’s ‘Bridge of Spies‘ retained its #3 rank with $11.3 million. The $40 million Cold War drama has a ten-day total of $32.5 million. While ‘Spies’ was never expected to be a smash hit, it was predicted to have strong holdover and long legs, which is what the numbers are showing so far.

The best-performing of this weekend’s debuts finished in the #4 spot. From just over 3,000 locations, ‘The Last Witch Hunter‘ opened to $10.8 million. It shouldn’t come as any surprise since Vin Diesel’s mid-2000s test as a solo star failed, but the movie is already being called a flop.

Part of what might be hurting ‘Goosebumps’ is the fact that Sony’s ‘Hotel Transylvania 2‘ just keeps hanging on. Rounding out the Top 5 with another $9 million, the animated family flick’s domestic total is up to $148.2 million.

While the franchise’s sixth entry looks like a flop, it’s worth noting that ‘Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension‘ had the best per-screen average out of all of the Top 10 titles. From 1,652 locations, the found-footage scary movie earned $8.2 million (which is considerably less than all the other ‘Paranormal’ entries) and $4,952 from each location. As part of Paramount’s experiment, ‘The Ghost Dimension’ will debut on VOD services in approximately three weeks.

Danny Boyle’s ‘Steve Jobs‘ bio-pic had the best per-screen debut for the year during its limited run, but that same success didn’t translate to the nationwide expansion. On nearly 2,500 screens, the drama grossed $7.2 million and only finished in the #7 spot. The Michael Fassbender vehicle has now earned $9.9 million domestically. Its international roll-out has yet to begin.

As bad as ‘The Last Witch Hunter’ and ‘Paranormal Activity’ performed, that’s nothing compared to the other two nationwide releases.

Bill Murray’s ‘Rock the Kasbah‘ opened on 2,012 screens and was only able to pull in $1.5 million. The Open Road picture landed in the #13 spot, and its $750 per-screen average makes it the fifth-worst movie of all time to open at more than 2,000 locations.

From 2,413 locations, Universal’s ‘Jem and the Holograms‘ did even worse. The ‘tween musical based on an ’80s cartoon that nobody remembers only scored $1.3 million for the #15 spot. Its $547 per-screen average makes it the fourth-worst movie of all time to open at more than 2,000 locations.

Focus Features’ limited released of ‘Suffragette‘ proved to be a successful decision. From four locations in New York and L.A., the equal rights drama earned $77,000 and a per-screen average of $19,250. The film’s expansion is said to start this coming weekend and continue into awards season.

Top 10:

1. ‘The Martian’ (Fox) – $15,900,000

2. ‘Goosebumps’ (Sony) – $15,500,000

3. ‘Bridge of Spies’ (Buena Vista) – $11,365,000

4. ‘The Last Witch Hunter’ (Lionsgate) – $10,825,000

5. ‘Hotel Transylvania 2’ (Sony) – $9,000,000

6. ‘Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension’ (Paramount) – $8,200,000

7. ‘Steve Jobs’ (Universal) – $7,270,000

8. ‘Crimson Peak’ (Universal) – $5,560,000

9. ‘The Intern’ (Warner Bros.) – $3,855,000

10. ‘Sicario’ (Lionsgate) – $2,950,000

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