OPENINGS: NIGHTCRAWLER (Open Road) and Ouija are in a dead heat for the weekend title, with Nightcrawler claiming a temporary $9000 edge at $10.909M. We won’t know the real winner until tomorrow, but Ouija is already admitting a 52% Sunday drop, while Nightcrawler maintains that it will only fall 35% today. That number is the more likely to slip, which could give the weekend to the horror movie. In any case, a nearly $11M opening is good news for the low-budget, lightly-marketed Nightcrawler, which was helped by extremely strong reviews. Nightcrawler also earned $1.8M in a handful of foreign territories.
The combination of Nicole Kidman and Colin Firth convinced hardly anyone to buy tickets for BEFORE I GO TO SLEEP (Clarius), which opened to a dreadful $2M–and even that number probably won’t hold, since it rests on a very optimistic Sunday estimate of a tiny 21% decline. Sleep probably won’t outgross this year’s other Kidman/Firth collaboration The Railway Man, which managed $4.4M and never expanded beyond 600 theatres.
HOLDOVERS: The weakness of the weekend’s newcomers was a bonanza for the movies already in theatres. With the exception of last weekend’s openings, nothing in the Top 10 fell more than 33%. ST VINCENT (Weinstein), which increased its theatre count by about 10%, held essentially even at $7.8M, and is already near $20M. The Day of the Dead-themed BOOK OF LIFE (20th) slipped a mere 17% to $8.3M, and is at $40.5M. ALEXANDER AND THE TERRIBLE, HORRIBLE, NO GOOD, VERY BAD DAY (Disney) also held up beautifully, down 10% to $6.5M, with $53.6M so far. Alexander also has $15.9M internationally after a $1.8M weekend in 21 territories. (Both family movies, however, may be decimated next weekend by the arrival of Disney’s Big Hero 6.)
OUIJA (Blumhouse/Universal), as noted, is contending for the weekend win, down an extremely good (for a horror movie) 45% to $10.9M, and with $35M so far. It will certainly go over $50M in the US, guaranteeing it a profit even with its big-studio marketing push, thanks to a miniscule $5M production cost. Ouija is just getting started overseas, and took in $5.7M (fot a $7.7M total) in 19 territories. DRACULA UNTOLD (Legendary/Universal) also sold tickets over Halloween weekend, down 33% to $2.9M and with $52.9M to date in the US. Overseas, it’s taking in much more plasma, at $136.1M after a $12.4M weekend in 61 markets.
JOHN WICK (Lionsgate) had a fine Weekend 2 hold, down 44% to $8.1M, at $27.6M so far. With a likely $150M pricetag for production and worldwide marketing, it’s still going to need international help to breakeven,and its overseas business is rather sluggish so far, at $8M after a $6.6M weekend in 34 territories. However, Lionsgate should make its money back on its US-only rights.
The longer runs continued to hang tough. FURY (QED/Columbia/Sony) fell 32% to $9.1M and a $60.4M US total, angling to reach $80M. However, although it’s got plenty of international release ahead, it’s not a blockbuster overseas so far, which is somewhat surprising for a Brad Pitt WWII vehicle, and could be worrisome–this weekend it brought in $14.6M in 44 territories, with $37.8M to date. GONE GIRL (20th) is now David Fincher’s biggest US hit at $136.6M (after $8.8M for the weekend, down a tiny 20%), and isn’t anywhere near done. Overseas, it earned $15.3M this weekend for a $142.4M cume, and it will challenge The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and its $333.9M as Fincher’s biggest title worldwide. THE JUDGE (Warners) also held well, down 22%, but with a $39.6M total after a $3.4M weekend, it’s still an underperformer.
GUARDIANS OF THE GALAXY (Marvel/Disney) is now the #2 worldwide hit of the year (still far behind the $1B+ Transformers: Age of Extinction), having hit $765M to pass Maleficent. That title may not last long, with The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part I, Interstellar, The Hobbit 3 and Big Hero 6 all on the way. TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES (Paramount) hit China, where it topped the charts with $26.5M. Turtles is at $434.5M worldwide, with Japan still to come.THE MAZE RUNNER (20th) is nearing $100M in the US ($97M after barely falling 4% to a $2.3M weekend), and it’s now over $300M worldwide, after a $23.8M weekend ($13.7M of it from China) put it at $208.5M overseas.
LIMITED RELEASE: BIRDMAN (Fox Searchlight) expanded to 231 theatres, and continues to roll along at a strong but not exceptional pace. Its $10.9K per-theatre average was slightly ahead of the $10K average for Blue Jasmine when it hit 229 theatres, and that film reached $33.4M. DEAR WHITE PEOPLE (Roadside) fell 40% to a $1900 average. WHIPLASH (Sony Classics) increased its theatre count by one-third, and climbed 10% for the weekend, with a moderate $4500 average. The acclaimed documentary CITIZENFOUR (Radius/Weinstein) had a $5700 average at 37. LAGGIES (A24) fell to a $4K average as it spread to 16 theatres. LOW DOWN (Oscilloscope) had a $5300 average at 2. Jean-Luc Godard’s 3D GOODBYE TO LANGUAGE (IFC) reaped his usual critical bounty of puzzled rapture, and had a $12.5K average at 2 theatres in New York.
NEXT WEEKEND: INTERSTELLAR (Paramount/Warners) has a 2-day film-only opening starting Tuesday night at around 300 theatres, because Christopher Nolan gets what he wants. It goes wide 2 days later, joined by BIG HERO 6 (Disney), and together they should completely remake the box office landscape. Film festival favorite THE THEORY OF EVERYTHING (Focus/Universal) begins its Oscar push with a limited opening.
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