There was no contest at the box office this weekend as the week’s one new wide release easily conquered all other movies.
Ridley Scott’s The Martian premiered right at the top this week, immediately establishing itself as the first big adult hit of the fall. Despite being a primarily commercial release, the film comes from a prestige-y director and features a prestige-y cast. And critics love it. If this continues to be a smash in the coming weeks, the film could very well enter into Oscar consideration.
The fall’s other big hit, Hotel Translyvania 2, slipped to #2 in its second week but continues to be a resounding financial success despite lukewarm reviews. The expansion of Sicario, meanwhile, is the weekend’s other big story. After two weeks in limited release, the Denis Villeneuve action drama went nationwide this weekend and earned the #3 spot. Keep your eye on this one as word-of-mouth should help it continue simmering beneath the surface and amass a respectable final total.
At #4, The Intern continues to do better than expected, though it’s no match for Nancy Meyers’s last film, It’s Complicated. Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials dropped to #5 and is a reasonable success, though it doesn’t seem able to match its predecessor’s total.
Black Mass came it at #6 in its third weekend and should continue to do solid business over the next few weeks. Everest, meanwhile, was at #7 and continues to be a surprising disappointment in wide release, grossing far less than anyone had expected.
The Visit slipped two spots to #8 and is making a huge profit. At #9, War Room is still a phenomenon, while The Perfect Guy slipped to #10.
This was a tough weekend for The Walk, which couldn’t crack the Top 10 in its IMAX-only first weekend. Everest, you remember, opened at #5 with the same pattern. The Walk is scheduled to expand to all screen types next week. Let’s see if it fares any better, though that expansion hurt Everest. I doubt anyone involved is happy with these results.
| TW | LW | Title | Gross (est.) | Cumulative (est.) | Weeks in Release |
| 1 | N | The Martian | $55,000,000 | $55,000,000 | 1 |
| 2 | 1 | Hotel Transylvania 2 | $33,000,000 | $90,541,765 | 2 |
| 3 | 10 | Sicario | $12,075,000 | $15,076,295 | 3 |
| 4 | 2 | The Intern | $11,620,000 | $36,523,892 | 2 |
| 5 | 3 | Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials | $7,650,000 | $63,241,124 | 3 |
| 6 | 5 | Black Mass | $5,905,000 | $52,521,030 | 3 |
| 7 | 4 | Everest | $5,510,000 | $33,181,310 | 3 |
| 8 | 6 | The Visit | $3,950,000 | $56,921,090 | 4 |
| 9 | 8 | War Room | $2,800,000 | $60,544,613 | 6 |
| 10 | 7 | The Perfect Guy | $2,400,000 | $52,615,190 | 4 |
Source: Box Office Mojo
What did you see this weekend?
