Coverage: “Spectre” and “The Peanuts Movie” hit box office high notes

Box office numbers dominated headlines Monday, with “The Peanuts Movie” and latest James Bond film “Spectre” both debuting this weekend.

Bryan Alexander of USA Today summed up the weekend’s success:

Spectre is the second-biggest Bond opening behind 2012’s Skyfall, which took $88.4 million. The U.S. tally fell short of analysts’ initial expectations for the weekend, following Spectre’s record opening in the United Kingdom.

“Unquestionably, this is a big, big success in America, the second-biggest Bond movie debut ever here. And this is already a smash global success,” Dergarabedian says.

Spectre, which scored $9.1 million on 374 IMAX screens, received a mixed reception from critics, with a 62% approval rating on RottenTomatoes.com. Audiences gave it an A- grade on CinemaScore.

The 3-D computer animated Peanuts marked a strong return for the beloved comic strip characters, who hadn’t appeared on the big screen since Bon Voyage, Charlie Brown underperformed in 1980. Director Steve Martino and screenwriter/producer Craig Schulz, son of Peanuts creator Charles M. Schulz, carefully developed a film that honored fans.

“They obviously took their time with this project and did it right,” says Jeff Bock, box office analyst for Exhibitor Relations. “And Peanuts will have legs through the holiday season. All signs point for this to be the beginning of a new Peanuts franchise. This opening is exactly what the filmmakers needed for that.”

Peanuts was a hit with critics, receiving an 86% positive rating on RottenTomatoes.com. Audiences gave it an A on CinemaScore.

Matt Damon and The Martian continued to excel with $9.3 million and third place in the movie’s sixth weekend. The Ridley Scott-directed film has $197.1 million total at the box office as it chugs into awards season.

Jack Black’s role as children’s horror author R.L. Stine in Goosebumps continued to pull in young audiences for post-Halloween thrills, taking fourth place with $7 million in its fourth weekend ($66.5 million total).

Tom Hanks’ and director Steven Spielberg’s Cold War collaboration Bridge of Spies rounded out the top five with $6.1 million in its fourth weekend of release for a total of nearly $55 million.

The Wall Street Journal’s Ben Fritz wrote about the much-needed boost the films gave box offices:

The returns of James Bond and Charlie Brown helped fuel Hollywood’s best box office weekend in three months.

The new 007 film “Spectre” and “The Peanuts Movie” both made strong, if not spectacular, debuts despite competition from each other. Over the weekend, they took in an estimated $73 million and $45 million, respectively, in the U.S. and Canada.

The total domestic weekend box office was $164 million, according to Rentrak, the industry’s highest total since mid-July and a much-needed boost after what had been a quiet fall.

“Two pictures this size opening provided juice to the entire marketplace,” said Rory Bruer, president of distribution for Sony Corp.’s Sony Pictures Entertainment, which released “Spectre.” The new Bond movie had the second-highest opening ever for the series, behind only 2012’s “Skyfall,” which also starred Daniel Craig.

Reviews for “Spectre” were poor, but audiences gave the new movie an average grade of A-, according to market-research firm CinemaScore, a good sign for word-of-mouth.

Paul Ebeling of Live Trading News wrote about how production companies need their end of the year releases to do well in order to balance the costs of recent flops:

Overall box office revenue at the weekend is expected to come in at $162-M, a record for the 1st full weekend in November. And good news for Hollywood following a string of big DOA’s.

Spectre is James Bond’s 24th trip to theaters did not match the $88.4-M domestic box office debut of Skyfall in November 2012, the series best, but beat the openings of Casino Royale ($40.8-M) and Quantum of Solace ($67.5-M). All 4 films star Daniel Craig as Agent 007.

Sony, MGM and Eon Productions, partners on the film. “It’s a fantastic start,” said Sony worldwide distribution president. “On every continent, including Latin America, Asia and Europe it is breaking Skyfall records. It opened to a massive $20.1-M box office in Germany posting the biggest Saturday of all time. Spectre has yet to open in China, Japan, Australia and France.

And, after making history in the UK with the biggest opening of all time, Spectre fell just 29% in its 2nd frame there to jump the $100-M mark and put it ahead of Skyfall.

The film earned an A- CinemaScore from audiences. Spectre played heavily male (62%) and older, with 75% of ticket buyers over the age of 25.

The film cost at least $250-M to produce after incentives and rebates, so will need to do sizable business at the global box office, or $900-M+ by some estimates. Skyfall grossed $1.1-B all in.

The Peanuts Movie, costing just under $100-M to produce, coincides with the 65th anni of the comic strip and the 50th anni of its classic TV special, A Charlie Brown Christmas.

From Fox Animation, and Blue Sky Studios, Peanuts is a family affair, with Schulz’s son, Craig, and grandson, Bryan, co-writing the screenplay with Cornelius Uliano. In agreeing to hand over the film rights the Schulz Family was insistent on retaining a certain amount of creative control.

Brooks Barnes and Michael Cieply of The New York Times explained how Hollywood is now focusing on how the year will finish out, with “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” and “The Hunger Games: Mickingjay – Part 2” still to be released:

With the release of “Spectre,” Hollywood now turns to two movies that are expected to be monsters: “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay — Part 2” and “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.” Advance ticket sales for the new “Star Wars” installment, Hollywood’s closest thing to a guaranteed smash hit, have already shattered records.

The question is whether the 70 or so other movies set for release between now and Jan. 1 will be left to pick up crumbs.

One theory of the current dynamic is that studios have released too many movies that go after the same audience — “Steve Jobs” ate into “The Walk” ate into “Black Mass,” for example.

But distributors have already trimmed schedules to curtail the cannibalism. Fox Searchlight, an Oscar powerhouse, introduced its dramedy “Demolition,” with Jake Gyllenhaal, at the Toronto International Film Festival in September, but held the movie for release next April. In all, Box Office Mojo counted 72 films in the marketplace during October, down from 77 last year (but still up from the mid-1990s, when October picture counts averaged 27).

Another worry is that consumer behavior may be changing on a deeper level. In pursuit of global audiences and trying to combat the arrival of mammoth flat-screen televisions in America’s living rooms, Hollywood has steered sharply toward event movies. The likes of “Spectre,” “Star Wars” and “The Hunger Games” work so hard to get people into theaters — and make the 3-D tickets and costly concessions palatable — that consumers just can’t be bothered to check out the more modest offerings.