I began the week expecting that the horror Annabelle would beat out David Fincher's mature-themed thriller, Gone Girl, simply because genre movies have such immediate appeal. Plus, adults tend to wait a bit longer to check out big movies. But I was wrong and it's Gone Girl that eeks out #1 with $38M, but to be honest both movies did great. Gone Girl benefits from having Ben Affleck in one of his biggest roles to date that doesn't involve a Bat-suit, and obviously Gillian Flynn's buzzy novel. This is a total water cooler movie that casual moviegoers will be talking about for awhile (that twist!!!!), and to that end it should hang around near the top for a few weeks at least. It's also the biggest debut for Fincher but not really surprising as the film is easily his most commercial.
2. Annabelle- $37.2M
Spinoffs of established films tend to be a gamble, but Annabelle, a prequel to last year's small-budget hit The Conjuring, did nearly as well. Its $37M debut is just a shade under The Conjuring's $41M. It will probably take a tumble next week like most horrors do but this is obviously a win for Warner Bros. and don't be surprised if the demonic doll returns in some fashion, possibly in next year's The Conjuring sequel.
3. The Equalizer- $19M/$64.5M
Denzel Washington continues to equalize the box office with an additional $19M for The Equalizer, which has now surpassed $100M worldwide.
4. The Boxtrolls- $12.4M/$32.5M
Laika's stop-motion animated film The Boxtrolls added another $12M, slipping only 28% in week two. Overall the $60M film has gained $50M, good enough to earn the studio another three-picture deal with Focus Features.
5. The Maze Runner- $12M/$73.9M
6. Left Behind- $6.8M
In a year that has seen faith-based movies really tear it up at the box office, Left Behind is still off to a pretty terrible start. The film is basically a reworking of the atrocious Kirk Cameron-led version of the Rapture-loving movie from years ago, only this one stars Nicolas Cage and Jordin Sparks, two actually movie stars. And it's probably due to them and the typical prodding from right-leaning websites that it was able to score $6.8M, which is still one of the lowest debuts in Cage's career. Full disclosure, the studio behind this one knows me and wouldn't let us put up a review, knowing that it would get bashed. They were probably right because it looks awful.
7. This is Where I Leave You- $4M/ $29M
8. Dolphin Tale 2- $3.5M/$37.9M
9. Guardians of the Galaxy- $3M/$323.3M
10. No Good Deed- $2.5M/$50.1M
