'Spectre,' 'Peanuts' signal box office rebound

Ariel Lynch

03:13 | Saturday, Nov 21, 2015

Though a few in the industry thought "Spectre" could have an $80 million opening, as it got the widest release of any Bond film ever with 3,972 theaters, the film still has one of the biggest opening weekend figures to date this year. The Martian, already Ridley Scott's highest grossing film of all time, has yet to hit the Chinese and Japanese box offices, where it will add substantially to its staggering $458.5 million earnings. Without giving too much away, the difference here for me is, this movie draws together all four of Daniel's movies into one final story, and he completes a journey.

Distributor Sony Pictures Entertainment and Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Inc. spent about US$250 million to make "Spectre", vs US$209 million on "Skyfall".

This weekend's box office was up about 4% from a year ago.

The Peanuts Movie provided a family-friendly alternative to James Bond's guns and martinis and took second place with a strong $45m (£30m). The film has struggled with critics, although Box Office Mojo notes that audiences gave it an A- CinemaScore grade.

Overall box office revenue at the weekend is expected to come in at $162-M, a record for the 1st full weekend in November. At $35 million to make, the film broke even here, but worldwide proved a whopping success with over $180 million taken in.

The Peanuts Movie opened in only 11 global markets, and only grossed $4.6 million in them.

The Peanuts Movie brings to animated life the characters created by Charles M. Schulz in his famous comic strip and the script was co-written by his son Craig and grandson Bryan. It landed in second place with $45 million, putting it closer to The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge Out of Water and Hotel Transylvania 2 which bowed in with $55 million and $48 million respectively.

About 70 percent of "Peanuts" viewers were families, and the film received an A from CinemaScore.

In other competition, The Martian remains a force of nature at the box office, landing at No. 3 in Week Six with $9.3 million. The Open Road film starring Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton and Rachel McAdams averaged $60,455 on five screens, the best per-screen number of the week. 5 million, and Bridge of Spies made $6.1 million, additionally in its fourth weekend, for a $fifty five million home complete.

follow

editors' picks

November 21, 2015
Man With Sword Terrorizes Fifth Avenue Apple Store
When he was outside in front of the store, the man allegedly went back to screaming and waving around his samurai sword. Police told affiliate WABC that the man entered the store and was yelling and menacing with the sword.

November 21, 2015
France calls for EU response to terror threat
Imams in mosques across Turkey have spoken out against Islamic State group in sermons read during traditional Friday prayers. The measures include allowing police to carry weapons when they are off duty and use them in the event of an attack.

November 21, 2015
Pakistan Army Chief rakes up Kashmir issue with John Kerry
They discussed the available options to overcome the current challenges related to the Afghan peace process and the way forward. Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff General Joseph Dunford also joined Carter in his meeting with Sharif.

November 21, 2015
Global mobile phones sales reach 478 million units in Q3: Gartner
The recent launch of iPhone 6S had boosted sales in the fourth quarter of 2014 with the company achieving 93% profit share. Continued progress in rising markets helped bolster gross sales of native manufacturers.

November 21, 2015
JR Smith's lawyer: 'The accusation is completely false'
The Daily News also reports that police were notified of the incident three days after it initially occurred. Smith has been accused of choking a 19-year-old outside a restaurant in New York earlier this month.

November 21, 2015
Comcast Battles T-Mobile's Binge On With New Streaming App
Subscribers will get immediate access to the service after signing up - no technician, no contracts or anything else is required. That might insulate it from potential net neutrality complaints; regulations have an exemption for non-broadband service.

November 21, 2015
National Adoption Awareness Month looks to help children of all ages
Like an athlete using adrenaline to push toward the finish line, Ganessa Edmonson's fuel is an unquenchable love for children. Florida is fortunate to have many foster parents who provide loving, temporary homes, but these children need forever homes.

November 21, 2015
Miranda Lambert Is "Casually Dating" Following Blake Shelton Divorce
She went on to call Shelton a "musical jukebox", but DeGeneres interjected to ask, "And he's a good kisser, or no?" "He knows everything about music; it's crazy".

November 21, 2015
Jordi Gomez hopeful of Sunderland win over Crystal Palace
John O'Shea, who played for the Republic of Ireland against Bosnia-Herzegovina, could feature after his recent hamstring injury. He also played in Tuesday's international against England at Wembley.

November 21, 2015
Vardy to be assessed ahead of Leicester's clash with Newcastle
That was very important for the manager and for us as well. "I don't want to risk a player for a match then lose him for a month". Janmaat said: "We will be doing everything so that he won't be scoring against us - I certainly hope we can stop him".