The weekend brought a glut of new releases to the multiplexes and art theaters, but it was David Fincher’s Gone Girl that remained on top for the second weekend in a row, grossing $26.8 million for a $78.2 million total. Great word of mouth and great reviews kept it ahead of the pack, and it only dropped 28 percent from last weekend’s gross, a rarity for any movie in the current marketplace. The movie’s already surpassed its production budget and is well on its way to a mid-$100 million gross in the long run, possibly more if it keeps holding on strong. Last week’s number two pick, Annabelle, had a typical second-weekend-horror-movie drop of 55 percent and made $16.3 million in fourth place for a $62.1 million total. It won’t last past October but the studio hardly cares, given that it cost $6.5 million to make.
The winner of this week’s crop of new releases was, predictably, the horror/action movie Dracula Untold, which overcame looking like total crap to made $23.4 million in second place, adding to the $62 million it’s already made overseas. It played to a primarily (57 percent) male audience, predictably, and although it too will likely drop off fast in the coming weeks, its international grosses will propel it to financial success. In third place was the word-salad-titled family movie Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, which rode the holiday weekend to a $19.1 million gross against a $28 million budget, and will likely make even more on Monday with the kids out of school. It should continue to do well for a couple weeks, with the only family movie competition coming from The Book of Life. And every weekend with so many new releases needs at least one that underperforms, and that dubious honor goes to the Roberts Downey Jr. and Duvall’s The Judge, which opened in fifth place with $13.3 million. While that’s not the worst opening for a mid-budget R-rated dramedy with the level of star power this one had, it’s the lowest opening for RDJ since The Soloist back in 2009, and bad reviews should keep audiences away. It also doesn’t help that Gone Girl siphoned off much of its audience, though that couldn’t have been predicted.
Next week brings Brad Pitt in World War II again with Fury and The Book of Life giving kids some scares.
Source: BoxOfficeMojo
