'The Martian' tops weekend box office with $55 million; just shy of 'Gravity' October record
It was only $785,000 shy of the largest opening weekend ever for the month of October, which is held by fellow space adventure "Gravity" ($55.8 million in 2013).
The performance by "The Martian" exceeded industry expectations, which had the film opening in the mid $40 million range.
The adaptation of Andy Weir's novel of a NASA astronaut who must survive with limited supplies on Mars after being stranded on the Red Planet had an impressive opening Friday with $18 million (including Thursday night previews). The film then had a 26% increase in ticket sales on Saturday, according to Deadline.
Coming in second place is "Hotel Transylvania 2." The Adam Sander-voiced animated comedy scored an estimated $33 million, according to The Hollywood Reporter, just a 28% decrease from its record-breaking opening weekend last week.
The drug war thriller "Sicario" came in third with an estimated $12 million, according to THR. Its first weekend in wide release, the Emily Blunt-starrer has built a strong audience through positive reviews and word-of-mouth during the previous few weekends in limited release.