Spectre leads box office with $152.6 million

In this image released by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures/Columbia Pictures/EON Productions, Daniel Craig appears in a scene from the James Bond film, “Spectre“.

Spectre and The Peanuts Movie had no trouble beating 3 new competitors during a quiet weekend at the North American box office.

The comedy “Love the Coopers” – about a four-generation Christmas Eve family celebration that turns wacky and ultimately touching – debuted in third place with $8.4 million.

The 33 was underwhelming in 5 place making only $5.8 million. Her moody ’70s set drama about a dsyfunctional married couple, in which she stars opposite real-life husband Brad Pitt, clocked less than $96,000 from 10 screens.

Spectre notched its second win, earning an estimated $35.4 million for a second-weekend drop just shy of 50 percent.

Hotel Transylvania 2 slipped to ninth and $2.3 million, while The Last Witch Hunter fell to 10th place with $1.5 million.

Director Sooraj R. Barjatya’s romantic drama Prem Ratan Dhan Payo fetched $590,000 in its Australian opening on 34 screens, a per-screen average of more than $16,000. The film is projected to make close to $10 million during the rest of the weekend. It carries a gargantuan $250 million price tag. Compare that with 2014 when the studio had a year-long streak of major and modest box office hits including “Godzilla”, the “Lego Movie”, “Annabelle”, culminating with “American Sniper” which grosses $548 million worldwide, with $350 million of that from the USA alone.

Though the 2010 mine crash, which trapped 33 miners underground for 69 days, riveted the world, moviegoers showed little interest in a dramatized version of the accounts. Many were not impressed and said the film was not close to Skyfall, others added that this is the worst Bond movie in years. The film was co-distributed by Lionsgate and the production cost was only $17 million.

By the Sea is a moody marital drama written and directed by Angelina Jolie Pitt, who also stars. Open Road’s expanded release of awards-season contender “Spotlight”, a look at the Boston Globe’s investigation of the Catholic Church sexual abuse scandal, picked up $1.4 million from 60 theaters for a solid per-screen average of $23,306.

My All-American made only half a million at 1,565 locations and is projected to finish the weekend at around $1.5 million. On the horizon are “The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2”, which arrives Friday, followed by Pixar’s “The Good Dinosaur” on November 25 and Disney’s “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” on December 18.