The Martian blasted off with a massive $55 million this weekend, nearly surpassing another space-based adventure, Gravity, as the highest-grossing October debut in history.
The Ridley Scott release was bolstered by rapturous reviews, with critics calling the picture among the director’s best and heaping praise on Matt Damon’s performance as an astronaut stranded on Mars.
It marks the second best launch of Scott’s career, behind only Hannibal’s $58 million debut, and the second best premiere for Damon, trailing The Bourne Ultimatum’s $69.3 million bow.
“It’s going to hold up really well,” said Phil Contrino, vice president and chief analyst at BoxOffice.com. “It’s got everything. It’s got suspense, action, heart and humour, and the ending is really satisfying. People will walk out of the theatre and talk it up to their friends.”
Twentieth Century Fox backed the $108 million production and pushed the film out to 3,831 theatres. In addition to the strong notices, media reports about the possible discovery of water on Mars kept the distant planet front-and-centre in people’s minds.
“You can’t make this stuff up,” said Chris Aronson, Fox’s domestic distribution chief. “The fact that there was the announcement on the same week as our film just excites people. Human beings are just interested in otherworldly things right now.”
Overseas, the film is performing strongly, grossing $45.2 million from 49 markets, including such major territories as the UK, Australia, Italy, and Mexico.
“Tremendous critical support with amazing audience reaction conspires for ultimate success,” said Aronson. “Having audience reaction be the same as critics is as rare as surviving on Mars.”
Sony’s The Walk was overshadowed by The Martian in its limited release, with the biopic about high-wire artist Philippe Petit nabbing a disappointing $2 million over its first five days.
The studio is trying to build buzz for the picture ahead of its wide release on Friday, adhering to a strategy that Universal recently deployed with Everest, albeit with more modest results. Everest kicked off to $7 million in Imax and premium format theatres.
Sicario, a gritty drug war thriller, fared better. The Lionsgate release expanded from 59 theatres to 2,620 locations, earning a solid $12.1 million in the process.
Among holdovers, last weekend’s champ, Hotel Transylvania 2, showed impressive stamina, falling a slender 32 per cent to gross $33 million. The animated sequel has earned $90.5 million.