Entertainment reporter Sandro Monetti’s business take on this weekend’s new movie releases.

THE MARTIAN – Space agency NASA has a crisis management situation to handle when they mess up a mission to Mars, leaving one of their astronauts stranded on the Red Planet. But first they have to handle the press reaction surrounding the rescue mission. The NASA team turns to the experts at Pasadena’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory for help there and also must decide whether or not to accept a helping hand from Chinese authorities. Meanwhile, up on Mars, Matt Damon’s stranded astronaut has to turn into a farmer and figure out a way to survive until help comes by growing crops on a planet where nothing grows. Fox spent a budget of $108 million on this suspenseful space drama so will be hoping for out of this world box office returns on opening weekend.

THE WALK – There’s not much money in a career as a high-wire walker but the opportunities to make history and headlines are huge. Motivated by those goals, a self-interested French aerialist named Philippe Petit comes to the United States in 1974 with an audacious plan to make a tightrope walk between the twin towers of the World Trade Center. In advance of his dangerous quest, Petit raises money by passing a hat round after juggling for tourists, but he misses out on opportunities for sponsorship and branding. Sony division TriStar Pictures spent $35 million on this visual stunner starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt in the true story of a walk into history. Not one to see if you suffer from vertigo.