Top 5 Breakdown

 The Martian – £6,522,453 – NE

3D took £2,084,194 – total £2,829,476 – 2D took £2,807,780 – with previews £3,692,977

Director Ridley Scott’s biggest ever UK opening ahead of 2001’s Hannibal £6.4m for its opening but as Hannibal did it without previews it is still his biggest Fri-Sun opening.

Opening was bigger than both Gravity in November 2013 £6.2m and Interstellar in November 2014 £5.3m both films were also released in IMAX wasn’t released in IMAX due to The Walk.

The Martian had the biggest opening since Inside Out in July and had a similar opening to Matt Damon 2007’s Bourne Ultimatum opening with £6.55 including £1.24m from previews.

43% of its box office came from 3D compared with 89.5% for Gravity.

Originally set for release November 20th Century Fox brought forward its release date to October in June after it was given a slot at the Toronto Film Festival similar to Gravity had received in 2013; Allowing the Martian to build on the strong buzz generated over the following three weeks giving it the edge on The Walk had previously been dated for the same date.

The Martian has been compared to a number of films including Saving Private Ryan, Gravity, Apollo 13, Castaway and Interstellar.

The big question will be how it holds next weekend with the expansion of The Walk and Sicario compared to last year’s Gone Girl which dropped only 16% in its second weekend and Gravity down 14% in 2013 benefiting from IMAX screens.

With positive reviews and strong word of mouth far better than The Walk it could hold well until Spectre opens. After the disappointing performance of The Walk will IMAX give fans a chance to experience The Martian in IMAX?

20th Century Fox bringing forward its release forced them to delay Steven Spielberg’s Bridge of Spies till November 27th received excellent reviews at New York Film Festival last night.

2- Legend – £1,053,172 – total £15,366,963 

Down 41.7% in its fourth weekend held far better than other releases has become Studiocanal’s their biggest film of the year beating Shaun the Sheep’s £13.7m and will shortly overtake The Imitation Game £16.43m to become their second highest grossing film in the UK behind last year’s Paddington.

3- Everest – £849,634 – total £8,729,236 

3D took £289,904 – total £3,403,133 – 2D took £559,730 – total £3,798,402

After losing its IMAX and many 3D screens to The Martian and The Walk suffered a big 57.4% drop in its fourth weekend on release.

4 -Macbeth – £746,642 – NE 

After receiving positive reviews since its world premiere at Cannes would have expected stronger opening but suffered against tough competition. Could do better during the week targeting older audience but if it doesn’t it will be pulled from screens very quickly.

Was surprising Studiocanal released so close to Legend and during a busy weekend for new releases with the London Film Festival starting next weekend would of expected a premiere during and a release late November with award season in mind and its US opening on December 4th.

Early estimates had it charting behind The Intern before discovering another £14,810 box office to climb above it.

5 – The Intern – £732,184, – NE

After being slated by many critics and the negative media coverage generated by Robert De Niro walking out of a Radio Times interview The Intern suffered with the new releases having director Nancy Meyers worst opening since 1998’s The Parent Trap. With so many films being released in the coming weeks it’s unlikely to hold its screens for long and likely to be Nancy Meyers lowest grossing film in the UK which is currently Parent Trap with £5m.

Opening is far from It’s Complicated January 2010 with £1.1m, The Holiday December 2006 with £2.8m; Something’s Gotta Give February 2004 £1.2m and What Women Want in February 2001 with £3.4m.

Also opened

The Walk – Sony £157,597 – IMAX/3D took £130,713 – 3D took £26,420 – 2D took £464

Opening on 36 IMAX screens and other PLF screens across the UK; Everest ahead of its wide release which opened with (60% more) £395,164 from same number of screens.

Other box office news:

Hotel Transylvania 2 had its first weekend of “previews” taking £1.46m close to the originals opening weekend in October 2012 of £1.73m with another weekend of “previews” ahead of its opening on October 16th could see it open with £5m+ for its 7 day opening weekend will be still far from Home £6.01m opening which only had one weekend of previews. The reason for Inside Out dropping from fifth to tenth in the chart down 57.4%.

Last year when Gone Girl opened strongly with £4,105,696 while Dracula Untold £1,713,203, Bang Bang £602,193 and Dolphin Tale 2 £536,766 also opened.

This weekend’s top 10 box office took £11,298,772 up 62.2% from last weekend £6,969,646 and down 0.68% from same weekend last year. (£11,390,965). Had Hotel Transylvania 2 previews been added weekend would be 80.7% from last weekend and 10.5% up from last year

This weekend last year The Maze Runner opened with £2.038m, Annabelle £1.938m and One Direction: Where We Are Concert Film £1.018m while Gone Girl dropped only 16% in its second weekend to £3.058m to hold top spot.

Complete Top 10 October 2^nd – 4^th 2015

Film	Studio	Release date	Weeks	w/e box office	Change +/-	Cumulative
The Martian	20th Century Fox	30/09/2015	1	6,522,453	NE	6,522,453
Legend	Studiocanal	09/09/2015	4	1,053,172	-41.7%	15,366,963
Everest	Universal	11/09/2015	4	849,634	-57.4%	8,729,236
Macbeth	Studiocanal	02/10/2015	1	746,642	NE	746,642
The Intern	Warner	02/10/2015	1	732,184	NE	732,184
Maze Runner: Scorch Trials	20th Century Fox	11/09/2015	4	600,633	-47.7%	7,869,148
Il Trovatore Opera	By Experience	02/10/2015	8	233,507	NE	233,507
Miss You Already	eOne	25/09/2015	1	201,890	-56.8%	1,109,453
Singh Is Bling	Eros	02/10/2015	1	193,467	NE	193,467
Inside Out	Disney	24/07/2015	11	180,000	-57.4%	38,150,000

US Box Office

1 – 20th Century Fox’s

The Martian

with $55m close to $55.78m Gravity opening same weekend but without IMAX which would of seen it open bigger; received A CinemaScore big question is how can hold as well as

Gravity

22.6% and

Gone Girl

29.6%.

2 -Sony Pictures Hotel Transylvania 2 took $33m dropped 32% in its second weekend taking $90.5m to date

3- Lionsgate

Sicario

expanded taking $12.1m and $15m to date; received A- CinemaScore.

4- Warner Bros

The Intern

took $11.6m in its second weekend down 36% taking $36.5m to date

5 -20

^th

Century Fox’s

Maze Runner Scorch Trials

dropped 46% taking $7.6m and $63.2m.

On limited release

The Walk

opened in 365 IMAX screens disappointed taking $1.6m and $2m after 5 days. While

The Martian

and

Sicario

had strong buzz for weeks

The Walk

received positive buzz early but reviews were released late in its marketing campaign compared to the other films.

Freeheld –Lionsgate –

opened with $40,000 from 5 screens

He Named Me Malala – Searchlight –

opened with $56,000 in 4 screens expanding into 400 screens this weekend

(

After

The Walk

disappointing Sony Pictures will have their worst year at the US box office for 10 years since 2005 could be worse if

Spectre

doesn’t match

Skyfall

$304m box office).