Weekend Wrap-Up: Gone Girl Arrives and Annabelle Scares the Competition
October 7, 2014
As expected, Gone Girl won the race for top spot on the box office chart this weekend. However, while it earned more than expected, Annabelle still managed to make it a really close race. These two films, as well as the rest of the top five, all beat predictions and this lead to the overall box office growing 38% to $147 million. More impressively, this was 16% better than the same weekend last year. I was not expected 2014 to come out ahead on the year-over-year comparison, which makes this win so much more spectacular. Year-to-date, 2014 is still behind 2013 by a substantial margin of $370 million or 4.6% at $8.05 billion to $7.68 billion.
Gone Girl was blessed with a strong pedigree on both sides of the camera, which helped build the buzz. Fortunately, this buzz wasn't all hype and the reviews were just as strong. This helped the film earn first place over the opening weekend with $37.51 million. With its reviews and David Fincher's track record at the box office, the film should have long legs, long enough to reach $100 million rather easily. That's not taking into account any possible Awards Season buzz.
Annabelle crushed expectations with $37.13 million over the weekend, which put it within a rounding error of top spot. Additionally, the film only cost $6.5 million so it has covered its entire production budget and possibly half of its P&A budget. On the downside, its reviews are just 31% positive and its genre is known for short lefts. It might not make $37.13 million during the rest of its domestic box office run, but even if it does, it will break even just on the domestic box office numbers.
The Equalizer held on better than expected falling just 45% to $18.75 over the weekend for a total of $64.24 million after two. At this rate, it will reach $100 million before the end of its run, which should make the studio very happy.
The Boxtrolls landed in fourth place with $11.98 million over the weekend for a ten-day total of $32.09 million. This is ahead of ParaNorman's pace, but behind Coraline, so a final tally of $60 million is the current goal.
The Maze Runner was right behind with $11.64 million over the weekend for a total of $73.56 million. It is on pace to reach $100 million, more or less, which is excellent for a film that cost just $34 million to make. Assuming it didn't cost more than $34 million for P&A, getting to the century mark will assure the film breaks even, even if it can't find an audience internationally.
Left Behind missed the top five with $6.30 million. This is more than expected, but not enough given its production budget. Additionally, its reviews are among the worst of the year and it will likely collapse next weekend. It could find an audience among those who love "so bad it's good" movies, but that won't be enough for the studio to show a profit.
Filed under: Weekend Estimates, The Equalizer, The Boxtrolls, The Maze Runner, Gone Girl, Left Behind, Annabelle, David Fincher