LOS ANGELES: Danny Boyle’s Steve Jobs biopic has failed to impress at the North American box office, taking just $7.3m (£4.8m) in its first general week of release. The film, for which Michael Fassbender has been tipped for a best actor Oscar, entered the chart at number seven.

Four other films, including “Paranormal Activity: The Ghost Dimension” and Vin Diesel’s “The Last Witch Hunter,” crowded into theaters this weekend and were swiftly pulverized and left for dead.

Their failures allowed a trio of holdovers — “The Martian,” “Goosebumps,” and “Bridge of Spies” — to retain the top three spots on the box office chart.

The quality of many of these films was so atrocious that it didn’t matter where you opened them,” said Jeff Bock, a box office analyst with Exhibitor Relations. “They were never going to do well.”

hen the dust settled it was Ridley Scott’s “The Martian” in first place, adding $15.9 million to the Fox release’s impressive $166.4 million domestic haul. Sony’s “Goosebumps” showed some endurance in its second weekend, slipping a mere 35 percent to end the period with $15.5 million.