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APEX Hollywood Shortlist: The Martian Orbits the Top Spot for the Second Straight Week with $37M

October 13, 2015  | Written by Tomas Romero

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APEX Insight: Despite stiff competition from not one, but two, very different films starring Rooney Mara and adorable children (Joe Wright’s Pan and Stephen Daldry’s Trash), The Martian rockets to an out-of-this-world $37M haul in its second week in theaters.

Peter Pan author J.M. Barrie surely wasn’t counting on Mars getting in the way when he wrote his now-iconic passage about finding Neverland just past that “second star to the right.” But that’s exactly what happened over the weekend when Ridley Scott’s runaway hit, The Martian, took the number one spot at the box office for the second week in a row with an estimated $37M to Pan’s $15.5M.

And though some might find it hard to believe that the boy with no shadow could be overshadowed by anyone, the fact that Pan did a robust $25.1M overseas bodes well for the epic adventure yarn as it takes flight into major international markets like China, Japan and the UK in the weeks to come. And if that’s not enough to get fans charged up for this new take on the boy who could fly, the fact that Pan stars Hugh “Wolverine” Jackman in a rare baddie role and features Hollywood “It Girl” Rooney Mara as a colorful, revisionist Tiger Lily should definitely add a little pixie dust to things moving forward.

Speaking of magic, director Danny Boyle’s hotly-anticipated biopic of the so-called “Wizard of Apple Computer,” Steve Jobs, opened on four screens in New York and Los Angeles over the weekend with a staggering $521K or $130.2K per screen. Whew, talk about thinking different!

Featuring a cast of glittery, retina screen-ready Oscar-hopefuls like Kate Winslet, Seth Rogan, Jeff Daniels and the man of the hour himself, Michael Fassbender as Jobs, this one looks like the movie to beat moving into awards season. Of course, I thought the infamous Power Mac G4 Cube was gonna change the world back in 2000, so, what do I know?

Also opening in theaters this weekend, and concurrently on VOD, with $10K was the adventure crime thriller Trash. Directed by Oscar-nominated director Stephen Daldry (The Hours, The Reader) from a script by Love Actually writer-director Richard Curtis and a novel of the same name by Andy Mulligan, Trash is the story of a trio of street kids from the slums of Rio who stumble upon a mysterious wallet in the landfill they call home.

Released in Brazil last fall and in the UK this past January, Trash has already collected a handful of awards around the globe, including a 2015 BAFTA nomination for Best Film Not in the English Language. And though some have branded the film as a sugar-coated Slumdog Millionaire with music, I’m gonna trust that the man who directed Billy Elliot knows what he’s doing with a handful of poverty-stricken young boys in a rainbow-hued garbage heap. And if that wasn’t already enough, Trash also stars Martin Sheen as a priest and Rooney Mara (again!) as an NGO worker with a heart of gold. With rumblings of a possible Broadway musical adaptation already swirling around town, this Trash could turn into box office treasure any day now.

Weekend Box Office Estimates: October 9 – 11, 2015