Overall box office is down 26% from last year when Ender's Game opened on top with $27 million. Though, to be fair, that weekend didn't have Halloween on a Friday, so its not an apples-to-apples comparison.
In an interesting situation, and an incredibly rare strong hold for a horror flick, Ouija surprisingly held the top spot for a second-straight week. The board game adaptation fell 46% to $10.7 million, for a solid $34.8 million pick-up in 10 days. Despite poor reviews and mixed word-of-mouth, this movie surprisingly was able to hold onto an audience. Perhaps because of no new competition for its audience (all 3 new openers were rated R, while this is PG-13). But horror films drop at least 55% on their second weekend, so the fact this held well is baffling. With Interstellar and Big Hero 6 opening next week, this probably won't hold nearly as well in the coming weeks. But it does seem at least likely for this to close near $50 million, which is a strong result for a minor-budget movie.
Originally expected to take the top spot, Nightcrawler had to, in the end, settle for second place. The critically-acclaimed thriller opened to $10.4 million, for a per-venue average of an OK $3,775 from 2,766 locations. That's about in line with modest expectations, and is in the general range of star Jake Gyllenhaal's past movies (all of his starring or co-starring movies have opened in the $10-15 million range), but one has to wonder with the strong reviews, why didn't this open higher? Well, the end-of-October release date doesn't help matters. With the holiday movie season starting next weekend, it seemed likely for moviegoers to skip this week. That being said, the CinemaScore was a mixed "B-", so unless overwhelmingly strong reviews (93% on Rotten Tomatoes) helps it in the weeks ahead, don't expect a memorable run here. Distributor Open Road Films produced this for an undisclosed budget.Fury held the third spot, and held on better in its third frame, though all holdovers in general held on very well. The Brad Pitt war flick was off 34% to $8.8 million, for a 17-day pick-up of a decent $60.2 million. Fury continues to run a little ahead of The Monuments Men through the same point and will probably close near the $80 million vicinity.
Staying in fourth place, David Fincher's smash Gone Girl continued to hold on strong, off just 23% to $8.5 million. Since its debut one month ago, the well-received thriller has picked up a strong $136.3 million, or the same as star Ben Affleck's Oscar winner Argo from 2012. This should continue to play well with the strong word-of-mouth, and should ultimately close above $150 million.
The Book of Life held onto the fifth spot and held incredibly well in its third weekend. The animated flick was off just 18% to $8.2 million, and has earned a decent $40.4 million in 17 days. Unfortunately for Fox's fourth of five animated efforts this year, Book will have to deal with Big Hero 6 next weekend.
After a solid debut last weekend, John Wick had one of the weakest holds of the Top 10, off 44% to $8 million, for a 10-day gross of a fairly decent $27.5 million. The well-received Keanu Reeves pic continues to outperform expectations, and should reach $40 million by the time its done. Not bad, but not fantastic either.
Following its solid nationwide expansion, St. Vincent held on extremely well, sliding just 7% from last weekend to $7.2 million. The Bill Murray dramedy has picked up a decent $19 million in 10 days, and expanded to nearly 2,600 locations. With solid word-of-mouth, this could continue to stabilize and finish at or above $40 million.
Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day also held onto its audience, down just 8% to $6.6 million. Disney and Steve Carell are at a solid $53.7 million in 24 days, and actually could hold up well again next weekend as it is set to play at double-features with Big Hero 6. Look for a finish in the $65-70 million range.
The Judge actually was up a spot from last week, and held solidly in its fourth frame, off 23% to $3.4 million. Robert Downey Jr. and Robert Duvall are at $39.6 million in 24 days and should end up just over $45 million. Rounding out the Top 10 was Dracula Untold, which was off 32% in its fourth weekend to $3 million, for a fairly solid $52.9 million in 24 days, and is approaching $200 million worldwide.
Well, that's it for this week. Next week the holiday movie season starts with Interstellar and Big Hero 6. Both are earning great reviews and are expected to open huge. But how huge?
