Spectre, The Peanuts Movie Hold Steady

Spectre remained in first place at the box office last weekend (Nov. 13-15) with $33.68 million. The latest installment of Sony Pictures’ and MGM’s James Bond franchise was down 52 percent from its debut weekend. Its hold came as welcome news after the film opened on the very low end expectations. The second weekend percentage hold for Spectre was stronger than both the second weekend percentage hold of 2012’s Skyfall, which fell 53.5 percent to gross $41.10 million, and the second weekend hold of 2008’s Quantum of Solace, which fell 60 percent to gross $26.71 million. While last weekend’s hold was helped by the relative lack of new competition, it also suggests that Spectre is going over better with moviegoers than it has with critics and is a positive sign for the film going forward. Spectre has grossed $128.98 million in 10 days. That places the film 20 percent behind the $160.94 million 10-day take of Skyfall and 19 percent ahead of the $108.79 million 10-day gross of Quantum of Solace.

Daniel Craig as James Bond in Spectre knocked the box office competition out. (Photo: MGM/Columbia Pictures)

The Peanuts Movie placed in second with $24.01 million. The 3D computer animated adaptation from 20th Century Fox and Blue Sky Productions was down 46 percent from the previous weekend. That represented a hefty second weekend decline for a computer animated film outside of the summer season and came as a bit of a surprise, especially given the strong critical reviews for the movie. Last weekend’s hold suggests that the pre-existing Peanuts fanbase led to some built-in front-loading for the film its debut weekend. The Peanuts Movie is still having a solid run so far with a 10-day take of $82.30 million. It will be important for the film to stabilize this coming weekend, especially with Walt Disney Studios’ highly anticipated The Good Dinosaur opening on Wednesday, Nov. 25.

Love the Coopers was the weekend’s strongest new wide release with a third place start of $8.32 million. The ensemble holiday comedy from CBS Films and Lionsgate opened slightly ahead of its pre-release expectations. Love the Coopers hopes to have a lengthy run at the box office with help from the holiday season. On the other hand, it has been received poorly by critics, so it remains to be seen whether or not the film will prove to be critic proof going forward.

Twentieth Century Fox’s The Martian took fourth place with $6.71 million. The blockbuster Ridley Scott directed 3D sci-fi film starring Matt Damon continued to hold up very well, as it was down just 26 percent from the previous weekend. The 45-day total for The Martian stands at a very impressive $207.39 million.

The 33 rounded out the weekend’s top five with $5.79 million. The Warner Bros. Pictures’ drama starring Antonio Banderas and Lou Diamond Phillips opened below expectations, which were modest. Audiences ultimately weren’t interested in the theatrical re-telling of the 2010 Copiapó mining accident and mixed critical reviews didn’t help matters.

My All American made even less of an impact in wide release last weekend with a debut of just $1.37 million. The Aaron Eckhardt led sports drama from Aviron Pictures opened in 11th place for the weekend.

Fox International Productions’ Prem Ratan Dhan Payo opened strong in eighth place even in limited release with $2.43 million from only 287 locations, while Open Road’s Spotlight remained strong in limited release with $1.35 million from just 60 locations. Respective total grosses stand at $2.81 million for Prem Ratan Dhan Payo in four days and at $1.80 million for Spotlight in 10 days.

Meanwhile, Universal Pictures’ By the Sea had an unsuccessful limited launch with $96,250 from 10 locations. That gave the poorly reviewed Angelina Jolie Pitt directed film starring Jolie Pitt and Brad Pitt a per-location average of just $9,625, which is soft for a high profile release and will make it even tougher for the film to receive significant expansion going forward.