Weekend Wrap-Up
Ouija Wins; Wick Stronger Than Expected
By John Hamann
October 26, 2014
Bill Murray’s successful platform release St. Vincent went wide this weekend, expanding from 68 venues last weekend to 2,282 venues this weekend. St. Vincent was not expected to dominate anything this weekend, and did what it was expected to do, earning $8 million. It earns an okay venue average of $3,53`, and will need some strong word-of-mouth to keep it from dropping off. It earned an A- Cinemascore, which joins decent reviews (75% fresh at RottenTomatoes), so its prospects are decent going forward. It is distributed by The Weinstein Company, and cost $13 million to make.
Seventh goes to Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day. The family film earned $7 million and fell 39% after dropping only 37% last weekend. The Disney production has now earned $45.5 million domestically, and is approaching $10 million from overseas theaters.
Eighth goes to The Best of Me, which falls on its head this weekend due to wildly bad reviews. After debuting to $10 million last weekend, the Nicolas Sparks adaptation earned only $4.7 million in its second weekend, dropping 53%. Made for $26 million, The Best of Me has now earned $17.7 million. The scariest thing you could do on Halloween weekend is to take in a double feature of Ouija and The Best of Me.
Ninth is The Judge, a film that does well on weekdays, but then fades badly during the weekend. Following a few days last week in third, The Judge falls on the weekend, earning only $4.3 million, a drop of 45% versus last weekend. The $50 million Robert Downey Jr. flick has now earned $34.4 million stateside, and will need a good push overseas to keep from being in real trouble.
Tenth goes to Dracula Untold, as the king of vampires isn’t going to make it to Halloween weekend. After earning just shy of $10 million last weekend, Dracula Untold (and unseen) earned only $4.3 million this weekend, giving it a drop of 57%. The $70 million production has earned $48.3 million in North America and is being bailed out overseas where it has put $117 million in in the kitty already.
In limited release, Birdman remains the big story, as the Michael Keaton Oscar seeker earned another $1.4 millionfrom only 50 venues, giving it an average of $28,720. Roadside Attraction’s Dear White People expanded to 384 screens, and pulled in $1.3 million.
Overall, the box office faded a bit this weekend, but is still either on par with last October or ahead. The top 12 films this weekend earned $102.7 million – a decent score in October – and was slightly ahead of last year’s top 12, which took in $94.9 million, thanks to $32 million from Bad Grandpa. Next weekend the brakes go on, as Halloween falls on a Friday. New releases contending with the schedule include Nightcrawler, with a crazy looking Jake Gyllenhaal, Before I Go To Sleep with Nicole Kidman, and a re-release of Saw on its 10th Anniversary.
| 1 |
Ouija |
Universal |
$20,006,000 |
New |
$20,006,000 |
| 2 |
John Wick |
Lionsgate |
$14,150,000 |
New |
$14,150,000 |
| 3 |
Fury |
Sony |
$13,000,000 |
- 45% |
$46,050,000 |
| 4 |
Gone Girl |
Fox |
$11,100,000 |
- 37% |
$124,093,200 |
| 5 |
The Book of Life |
Fox |
$9,800,000 |
- 42% |
$29,913,400 |
| 6 |
St. Vincent |
|
$8,058,000 |
+1111% |
$9,188,957 |
| 7 |
Alexander And the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day |
Disney |
$7,023,000 |
- 39% |
$45,544,000 |
| 8 |
The Best of Me |
Relativity |
$4,736,000 |
- 53% |
$17,662,674 |
| 9 |
The Judge |
WARNER BROS. |
$4,345,000 |
- 45% |
$34,377,000 |
| 10 |
Dracula Untold |
Universal |
$4,302,480 |
- 57% |
$48,327,870 |
| 11 |
Annabelle |
WARNER BROS. |
$3,330,000 |
- 58% |
$79,481,000 |
| 12 |
The Equalizer |
The Weinstein Co. |
$2,800,000 |
- 48% |
$93,775,000 |
| |
Also Opening/Notables |
| |
Happy New Year |
Yash Raj |
$1,900,000 |
New |
$1,900,000 |
| |
23 Blast |
Abramorama |
$401,897 |
New |
$401,897 |
| |
Laggies |
A24 |
$78,470 |
New |
$78,470 |
| |
Citizenfour |
Radius/TWC |
$125,172 |
New |
$125,172 |
| |
Glen Campbell: I'll Be Me |
Area 23a |
$86,829 |
New |
$86,829 |
| |
Force Majeure |
Magnolia |
$20,000 |
New |
$20,000 |
| |
The Principle |
Rocky Mountain Pictures |
$8,677 |
New |
$8,677 |
| |
Low Down |
Oscilloscope |
$7,000 |
New |
$7,000 |
| |
Birdman |
FOX SEARCHLIGHT |
$1,436,100 |
+ 238% |
$2,066,500 |
| |
Dear White People |
Roadside Attractions |
$1,400,000 |
+ 302% |
$2,000,000 |
| |
The Tale of the Princess Kaguya |
Gkids |
$63,467 |
+ 16% |
$140,947 |
| |
Listen Up Philip |
Tribeca Film |
$58,850 |
+ 153% |
$91,655 |
| |
Addicted |
Lionsgate |
$1,500,000 |
- 57% |
$15,336,702 |
| |
Whiplash |
Sony Classics |
$265,792 |
+ 36% |
$747,865 |
| |
Awake: the Life of Yogananda |
Counterpoint Films |
$58,672 |
- 22% |
$217,710 |
| |
The Boxtrolls |
Focus Features |
$900,000 |
- 67% |
$47,578,366 |
| |
The Maze Runner |
Fox |
$2,240,000 |
- 49% |
$94,010,100 |
| |
Guardians of the Galaxy |
Disney |
$545,000 |
- 43% |
$328,640,000 |
|
Box office data supplied by Exhibitor Relations
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