The American public would rather be stuck on Mars than watch Hugh Jackman chew scenery, apparently, as The Martian once again hit No. 1 at the box office this weekend, handily outperforming the week’s big new release, third-place contender Pan. The Peter Pan origin story only pulled on $15 million on a reported $150 million budget, a number that, despite a B+ CinemaScore at odds with the film’s nearly universal bad reviews, isn’t likely to increase in the coming weeks. (Cue Variety think piece about the death of origin stories, followed by panicked Spider-Man script meeting.) Adding to the film’s woes is the fact that Hotel Transylvania 2 pulled in $20 million in its second weekend, holding the No. 2 spot and bestowing upon Pan the dubious distinction of being beat by Adam Sandler.
Meanwhile, The Walk climbed from No. 11 to No. 7 in wide release, perhaps because the thought of watching someone traverse two skyscrapers on a regular movie screen made audiences less queasy than doing the same in IMAX. Holdovers also made up the interim, with the combined star power of Anne Hathaway and Robert De Niro allowing The Intern to maintain its position at No. 4 while Sicario fell slightly from No. 3 to No. 5 and Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials fell from No. 5 to No. 6, yet another manifestation of that ancient Indian curse.
The future appears more optimistic for the long-delayed Steve Jobs, which debuted at No. 16 despite only opening at a handful of theaters last weekend. (The film expands this week, with a nationwide run beginning October 23.) The combination of Danny Boyle, Aaron Sorkin, and Michael Fassbender in a turtleneck proved irresistible with a per-theater average of $130,236, the highest for any film released in 2015 and third overall behind American Sniper’s politically-charged run back in January. Jobs, by all accounts, may not have been a very good person, but he did always excel at making money.
For more detailed numbers, visit Box Office Mojo.