Not even two of the biggest stars in the world could keep By the Sea afloat at the US box office.

The European art house-influenced look at marital dysfunction features real life couple Angelina Jolie Pitt and Brad Pitt as a bickering twosome but the pleasures of voyeurism extend only so far.

The film grossed a measly $95,440 at 10 sites in New York, Los Angeles, Toronto, San Francisco, San Diego, Chicago, Boston and Washington, DC. for a doleful per-screen average of $9,544.

Universal, the studio behind the picture, pegs the budget at $10 million, but industry figures believe the cost of the picture is higher, citing its extended shoot. The film was shot over nine weeks mostly at Mġarr ix-Xini in Gozo. It will be released in Malta on December 11.

Meanwhile, James Bond is back on top, after Spectre led the US box office for the second weekend in a row. The dashing super spy, however, was not exactly facing off against Ernst Stavro Blofeld. Its main competition was the second weekend of The Peanuts Movie and a lacklustre crop of new releases such as the Chilean mining drama The 33.

Spectre added $35.4 million to bring its domestic total to $130.7 million. The weekend represents a 49 per cent drop from its opening. Sony is distributing the Metro-Goldwyn-Meyer and Eon Productions’ film which carries an enormous $250 million price tag.

The worldwide box office for Spectre has reached nearly $550 million, including a $48 million opening weekend in China.

The Peanuts Movie also showed some impressive endurance, sliding only 45 per cent to make $24.2 million. The Fox backed adaptation of Charles Schulz’s iconic comic strip about Snoopy and Charlie Brown has earned $82.5 million stateside.

A little house was constructed atop Mġarr ix-Xini as part of the film set of By the Sea. Photo: Matthew Mirabelli

Of the new wide releases, CBS Films’ holiday-flavoured Love the Coopers fared best. The ensemble comedy about a family gathering nabbed $8.4 million from 2,603 locations. Distributed in conjunction with Lionsgate, Love the Coopers stars Diane Keaton, John Goodman, and Alan Arkin and cost $17 million to produce.

Warner Bros’ The 33, a look at the 2010 rescue of 33 trapped Chilean miners, was less fortunate. The drama eked out $5.8 million from 2,452 theatres – a poor showing and less than the $8 million to $10 million it was expected to generate. The film is backed by Alcon Entertainment with a $25 million budget. The audience was 51 per cent female and 73 per cent over 25.

And then there was My All American, a true story about college football player Freddie Steinmark whose career is derailed due to medical setbacks. The film, starring Finn Whitrock and Aaron Eckhart, had hoped to snag the faith-based crowds that made War Room and God’s Not Dead hits, but struggled to complete the play. My All American earned a lowly $1.4 million in its debut for Aviron Pictures, playing best in Texas and the South.

Fox’s seventh weekend of The Martian finished ahead of The 33 in fourth place with $6.7 million, declining only 26 per cent. The Matt Damon sci-fier has topped Cinderella as the year’s seventh-largest domestic grosser with $207.4 million.

Open Road’s expanded release of awards-season contender Spotlight, a look at the Boston Globe’s investigation of the Catholic Church sexual abuse scandal, picked up $1.4 million from 60 theatres for a solid per-screen average of $23,306. It has hit $1.8 million.

Fox Searchlight expanded Brooklyn, another awards-season entry, with $485,000 at 23 sites for a location average of $21,087. Starring Saoirse Ronan as an Irish immigrant in the 1950s, the period drama has total $832,996 in 10 days.