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Los Angeles — The Neil Armstrong film First Man settled for a third-place landing at the North American box office in its opening weekend in theatres.
The Ryan Gosling-starrer and a host of newcomers, like the family-friendly Goosebumps sequel and the neo-noir mystery Bad Times at the El Royale, couldn't unseat last week's top two films, Venom and A Star Is Born, which again took first and second place.
As the month of October careens toward a box office record, the crowded marketplace can be a blessing or a curse for some films in their first weekends, although the hope is that they will play for weeks to come.
Such is the idea for Universal Pictures' First Man, which took flight over the weekend with everything to its advantage — prestige, good reviews (88% on Rotten Tomatoes), a movie star (Gosling) and an Oscar-winning director (Damien Chazelle).
Studios estimated on Sunday that First Man earned $16.5m in ticket sales from 3 640 North American theatres, and $25m worldwide. That was on par with expectations, but not exactly an eye-popping number for a space epic that cost nearly $60m to produce.
For Universal Pictures' president of domestic distribution Jim Orr, the box office intake for a film like First Man, which primarily appeals to older audiences not inclined to rush out to a movie theatre on the first weekend, is going to be "a marathon not a sprint."
"What we know is for these types of adult, fall films for discerning audiences, it's not about the opening weekend," Orr said. "We're very comfortable that it's going to have a long life at the domestic box office."
The comic book film Venom, meanwhile, continues to belie poor reviews in its second weekend in theatres. Sony Pictures estimated the film added $35.7m in ticket sales, down 56 percent from its first weekend, to repeat at no 1. The film has earned $142.8m to date from North American theatres.
On the other end of the critical spectrum, Bradley Cooper's A Star Is Born continued to ride a wave of goodwill and awards buzz into its second weekend adding $28m. With total domestic grosses at $94.2m, the Warner Bros. pic starring Cooper and Lady Gaga will sail past $100m in no time.
Fourth place went to Goosebumps 2: Haunted Halloween which took in $16.2m (down from the first film's $23.6m launch in 2015) while Bad Times At The El Royale debuted in seventh place with only $7.2m.
The well-reviewed young adult film The Hate U Give, meanwhile, performed well in its expansion. The drama about a police shooting of a black teenager managed to crack the top 10 playing in only 248 locations, placing ninth with $1.8m. It expands wide next weekend.
