WEEKEND BOX: THE MARTIAN CONTINUES TO DOMINATE HALLOWEEN SPIRITED BOX, PARANORMAL ACTIVITY FALLS BELOW EXPECTATIONS

The week before Halloween, and all through the box, not a horror flick was stirring, and it took a knock.

The makers of PARANORMAL ACTIVITY 238947, or whatever one we’re on now, had some high expectations. Those hopes fell flat after real box office numbers potentially showed Paramount/Blumhouse that it could very well be time to move on in horror..  The full weekend take for the GHOST DIMENSION could be around $6-7 mil–rough when the studios were publicly saying $12 mil with private hopes of more.

The STEVE JOBS biopic also seems to be flopping.. 

ROCK THE KASBAH never took off.

But what did take off for weeks: THE MARTIAN, a clear dominant factor in this seasonal box office and potentially one of the best films (if not the best) of the year, according to many people.

As usual, I am late for the party. I did not see the MARTIAN yet, but plan to today .. if that doesn’t work out, I will simply take a day off of work and see if alone! Not only do I want to, but I got extremely excited when Art Bell said that they chose to use his bumper music in the soundtrack.. Picture an astronaut stuck on Mars with ABBA’s WATERLOO playing? That is excitement only a theater can provide..

DEADLINE reports the top 5 (STEVE JOBS is 6)

1). The Martian (FOX), 3,504 theaters (-197) / $4.3M Fri. (-31%)/ 3-day cume: $15.1M (-29%)/Total cume: $165.5M/ Wk 4

2). Goosebumps (SONY), 3,501 theaters (0)/ $3.8M Fri. (-48%)/ 3-day cume: $14.7M (-38%) /Total cume: $42.9M/Wk 2

3). Bridge of Spies (DIS), 2,811 theaters (0)/ $3.3M Fri. (-39%)/ 3-day cume: $11.3M (-26%)/Total cume: $32.5M/Wk 2

4). The Last Witch Hunter (LIONS), 3,082 theaters / $3.7M Fri.* / 3-day cume: $9.5M /Wk 1
*$525K

5). Hotel Transylvania 2 (SONY), 3,154 theaters (-379) / $2.18M Fri. (-35%)/ 3-day cume: $8.5M (-33%) / Total cume: $147.8M /Wk 5