Matt Damon's "The Martian" regains box-office lead as newcomers flop

PanARMENIAN.Net - Matt Damon's "The Martian" topped this weekend's box office with an estimated $15.9 million from 3,504 theaters. Meanwhile, newcomers such as "The Last Witch Hunter", "Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension", "Jem and the Holograms" and "Rock the Kasbah" all opened below expectation with none of them taking the top three spots in the chart, AceShowbiz reports.

The astronaut movie starring Jeff Daniels and Kate Mara has garnered $218 million internationally for a global total of $384.3 million. Last weekend's champion, "Goosebumps", took in another $15.5 million, placing second in the chart. Tom Hanks' "Bridge of Spies" still performed well, grossing around $11.4 million from 2,811 theaters.

Vin Diesel's "The Last Witch Hunter" led the newcomers, earning around $10.8 million for a fourth-place finish. The fantasy movie, which centers on an 800-year-old witch hunter, also hit a few international markets, getting strong receptions in Asia, the Middle East and Latin America. "Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension" launched to approximately $8.2 million from 1,656 theaters. The latest chapter of "Paranormal Activity" was in the sixth place, becoming a franchise-worst performance.

Two other new releases, "Rock the Kasbah" and "Jem and the Holograms", both fell flat, earning around $1.5 million and $1.3 million respectively. The two movies became the third and fourth worst wide-release openings in box office history, coming behind 2012's "The Oogieloves in the Big Balloon Adventure" ($443,901) and 2008's "Delgo" ($511,920).