'The Martian' lands on top of box office charts with $54.3-million debut

NEW YORK -- Ridley Scott and Matt Damon each notched one of the best box office debuts of their careers with the $54.3 million opening for their 3-D space adventure "The Martian."

The 20th Century Fox release capitalized partly on some remarkable free advertising: NASA's discovery of water on Mars.

Denis Villeneuve's drug war thriller "Sicario," starring Emily Blunt, also shot up the charts with $12.1 million in its first week of wide release.

The top 20 movies at U.S. and Canadian theatres Friday through Sunday, followed by distribution studio, gross, number of theatre locations, average receipts per location, total gross and number of weeks in release, as compiled Monday by Rentrak:

1. "The Martian," 20th Century Fox, $54,308,575, 3,831 locations, $14,176 average, $54,308,575, 1 week.

2. "Hotel Transylvania 2," Sony, $33,192,596, 3,754 locations, $8,842 average, $90,734,361, 2 weeks.

3. "Sicario," Lionsgate, $12,148,041, 2,620 locations, $4,637 average, $15,149,336, 3 weeks.

4. "The Intern," Warner Bros., $11,685,064, 3,320 locations, $3,520 average, $36,588,956, 2 weeks.

5. "Maze Runner: The Scorch Trials," 20th Century Fox, $7,804,991, 3,319 locations, $2,352 average, $63,396,115, 3 weeks.

6. "Black Mass," Warner Bros., $5,846,126, 2,768 locations, $2,112 average, $52,462,156, 3 weeks.

7. "Everest," Universal, $5,640,500, 3,009 locations, $1,875 average, $33,311,810, 3 weeks.

8. "The Visit," Universal, $3,972,020, 2,296 locations, $1,730 average, $57,717,110, 4 weeks.

9. "War Room," Sony, $2,824,067, 1,746 locations, $1,617 average, $60,568,680, 6 weeks.

10. "The Perfect Guy," Sony, $2,412,366, 1,364 locations, $1,769 average, $52,627,556, 4 weeks.

11. "MET Opera: Il Trovatore (2015)," Fathom Events, $1,750,000, 930 locations, $1,882 average, $1,750,000, 1 week.

12. "The Walk," Sony, $1,560,299, 448 locations, $3,483 average, $1,982,573, 1 week.

13. "The Green Inferno," High Top Releasing, $1,313,799, 1,543 locations, $851 average, $5,956,222, 2 weeks.

14. "Singh Is Bling," Eros Entertainment, $487,040, 135 locations, $3,608 average, $487,040, 1 week.

15. "Pixels," Sony, $471,116, 331 locations, $1,423 average, $77,812,010, 11 weeks.

16. "A Walk In The Woods," Broad Green Pictures, $448,887, 553 locations, $812 average, $28,425,480, 5 weeks.

17. "Grandma," Sony Pictures Classics, $393,029, 315 locations, $1,248 average, $5,885,121, 7 weeks.

18. "Pawn Sacrifice," Bleecker Street, $370,028, 671 locations, $551 average, $2,062,534, 3 weeks.

19. "Mission: Impossible Rogue Nation," Paramount, $332,885, 377 locations, $883 average, $194,109,254, 10 weeks.

20. "Minions," Universal, $308,725, 265 locations, $1,165 average, $333,909,265, 13 weeks.