"Ageless Boy" Peter Pan is inferior to veterans

The magic of "the ageless boy" Peter Pan failed to reach movie theaters this past weekend, making the anticipated "blockbuster" one of the most disappointing debuts of the 2015 movie season and paving the way for "The Martian" to retain its throne for two consecutive weeks.

A scene from the movie ''Pan.'' (Source: Warner Bros)

Entering its second week, "The Martian" continues to prove the appeal of space exploration films with an impressive revenue of 37 million USD.

Adapted from the 2011 novel of the same name by writer Andy Weir, "The Martian" is about a NASA expedition team that goes to Mars to conduct research on the planet's surface.

During the journey, astronaut Mark Watney was seriously injured after a fierce sandstorm. Thinking he was dead, the crew members boarded the ship to return to Earth.

Left alone on a deserted planet, Watney tries to survive with the remaining supplies and tries to contact Earth. After receiving a message from Watney, NASA and international scientists work day and night to rescue him. The whole world's eyes are on the biologist trying to survive on a dead planet.

The top spot also did not "change hands" when "Hotel Transylvania 2" continued to "persist" with 20.3 million USD earned from the North American box office.

Following the success of the first part, the film by Sony Pictures tells the story of life at the monster hotel after Count Dracula receives a son-in-law from the human world and loosens the hotel's policy to welcome humans. However, Dracula is troubled when his half-human grandson still shows no signs of being a vampire.

While his daughter Mavis is away exploring the human world, Count Dracula and his friends send little Dennis on a unique vampire training course. Meanwhile, Dracula's father, the grumpy old vampire Vlad, visits the hotel and threatens to cause trouble if he discovers his great-grandson's origins.

One "low note" of the week was the disappointing debut of newcomer "Pan," a film inspired by the famous fictional character Peter Pan by author J.M. Barrie, a flying boy who refused to grow up and became a favorite of generations of readers around the world.

The film revolves around the 12-year-old boy Peter Pan, who is very active and often rebellious at the orphanage. One night, he is kidnapped and taken to the fantasy world called Neverland - a place full of pirates, warriors and fairies. From here, Peter falls into an exciting adventure and must confront the pirate Blackbeard to protect the land of Neverland. This is also a battle for survival that helps him realize his mission as well as to find the truth about his birth mother - who left him at an orphanage in the capital of England many years ago.

Despite gathering a powerful team including veteran director Joe Wright, stars Hugh Jackman and Rooney Mara, and an investment budget of up to 150 million USD, many scenes were meticulously filmed at famous locations around the world, including Vietnam such as Hang En (Quang Binh), Ha Long Bay and Trang An (Ninh Binh), "Pan" was not able to achieve the success it deserved.

With only 15.5 million USD in "opening theaters," the film could not even reach the already "modest" revenue that experts predicted to be around 20 million USD and became one of the most disappointing "blockbusters" of 2015.

Even on the international stage, the revenue of "Pan" only stopped at 20.5 million USD. According to analysts, the "disadvantage" of "Pan" partly comes from fierce competition from the animated film "Hotel Transylvania 2" in the same family film segment.

According to Vietnam+