Spectre was bound to have one of the biggest openings of 2015, and it did fairly well, pulling in $73 million in its U.S. release where it opened in 3,972 theaters, the second-biggest opening for any film in the series. According to THR, the newest James Bond movie grossed “$117.8 million from 76 markets for a global weekend take of $190.8 million and early worldwide total of $300 million. It placed No. 1 everywhere.”

Now we'll wait to see if Spectre has the same legs as Skyfall.  Critically, the movie didn't have the same positive reaction (Spectre has rated 62% on Rotten Tomatoes compared to Skyfall's 93%), and it's also facing a slightly different landscape.  The movie will still be the major blockbuster next weekend, but then it has to contend with The Hunger Games: Mockingjay - Part 2, and then a few weeks later we have Star Wars: The Force Awakens.


While all eyes were on Spectre, another major release did respectable business. The Peanuts Movie pulled in a solid $45 million. However, keep in mind that international box office is king, and THR points that while Peanuts did well stateside, it opened to a paltry $2.8 million in China. Nevertheless, Peanuts outperformed its $40 million domestic prediction, and The Martian continues to hold strong, dipping to the #3 slot.

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Image via Open Road Films

Meanwhile, in notable limited release, Spotlight and Brooklyn both did well, and it will be interesting to see how both of these critically acclaimed films fare as they expand into more theaters and the awards race heats up.

For Spotlight, the movie made $302,276 from five theaters in New York, Los Angeles and Boston for a location average of $60,545. Brooklyn tried to get a jump on its competition by opening last Wednesday instead of Friday, and so far has pulled in $237,389, which includes $181,000 for the weekend for a three-day screen average of $36,200. Not too bad for a film about a group of reporters breaking the Catholic Church sex abuse story or a period immigrant tale, respectively.

The only flop of the weekend was Trumbo, which opened in five theaters to $77,229 for a mediocre location average of $15,445. Don’t expect this film, which stars Bryan Cranston as blacklisted screenwriter Dalton Trumbo, to go anywhere in the awards race.


Here’s this weekend’s top ten, based on studio estimates:

Title

Weekend

Total

1.

Spectre

$73,000,000

$73

2.

The Peanuts Movie

$45,000,000

$45

3.

The Martian

$9,300,000

$197.1

4.

Goosebumps

$7,000,000

$66.5

5.

Bridge of Spies

$6,100,000

$55

6.

Hotel Transylvania

$3,600,000

$161.3

7.

Burnt

$3,000,000

$2.9

8.

The Last Witch Hunter

$2,650,000

$23.6

9.

The Intern

$1,800,000

$71.4

10.

Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension

$1,650,000

$16.3

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