OUIJA (Universal) had about the same hold on Saturday as Annabelle did 3 weeks ago, down 9% (in this case to $7.5M), according to preliminary numbers at Deadline, and that should be enough to get it to $20M for the weekend, easily enough for the win against little fresh competition. Ouija isn’t close to Annabelle‘s $37.1M opening, and it’s likely to run out of steam even quicker than most horror movies, because its target audience will be doing other things next Friday on Halloween night, but its performance is fine for its minimal costs.
JOHN WICK (Summit/Lionsgate) wasn’t able to ride its mostly excellent reviews to a Saturday bump (last week’s Fury rose 3% on its second day), instead falling slightly to $5.2M and likely heading to a $14M weekend. Lionsgate doesn’t have overseas rights, and it won’t do much more than break even in the US.
ST VINCENT (Weinstein) rose nicely on Saturday, up 30% to $3.2M, but it’s still not likely to get beyond $8M for the weekend. It’s already in wide release, since the studio decided against an extended platform run, and those numbers won’t keep it in theatres for long.
The Saturday-to-Saturday drop for FURY (QED/Columbia/Sony) was a soft 40% to $5.5M, which should give it a $13M weekend, down around 45%, a good result these frontloaded days. GONE GIRL (20th) fell less than 40% from last Saturday to $4.8M, for an $11M weekend that it will put it near $125M to date. THE BOOK OF LIFE (20th) was also down around 40% on Saturday to $4.2M, giving it a weekend that might hit $10M and $30M to date.
BIRDMAN (Fox Searchlight) expanded to 50 theatres well but not spectacularly, on its way to a weekend average that may not get to $30K. However, Searchlight, which played 12 Years a Slave perfectly last fall, will gradually build its runs through November, and then Birdman should be heavily featured in critics’ awards and Top 10 lists all through December as it heads towards Oscar season.
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