It’s often that you find two movies finishing almost neck and neck on opening for the top spot at the box office, but that’s exactly what happened this week as Annabelle and Gone Girl went head to demonic puppet head. Narrowly beating the thriller flick Annabelle, Gone Girl took the throne at the North American box office with an opening of $38 million to Annabelle’s second place $37.2 million finish.
Not only is that a great opening, it’s the highest for director David Fincher since 2002’s Panic Room and star Ben Affleck since 2003’s Daredevil. In comparison to other October releases, Gone Girl is also on top, beating out recent competition such as The Social Network ($22.4 million), Argo($19.4 million) and Captain Phillips ($25.7 million).
As for Annabelle, that opening now ranks it at sixth place in the top ten highest openings for a horror movie, just behind its predecessor The Conjuring ($41.9 million) and Insidious Chapter 2 ($40.3 million). With solid figures across the entire weekend that didn’t rely on first day successes, expect this film to have some long legs. Here’s how everyone else did on the weekend:
- Gone Girl – $38 Million
- Annabelle – $37.2 Million
- The Equalizer – $19 Million
- The Boxtrolls – $12.4 Million
- The Maze Runner – $12 Million
- Left Behind – $6.8 Million
- This Is Where I leave You – $4 Million
- Dolphin Tale 2 – $3.5 Million
- Guardians Of The Galaxy – $3 Million
- No Good Deed – $2.5 Million
Top ten departures this week include Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Let’s Be Cops. The adolescent shinobi have managed to raise some considerable shell at the box office, raking in over $349 million worldwide so far over a nine week run. Let’s Be Cops has also proven to be a surprise hit, with the faux fuzz making off with $106.8 million worldwide. Not bad, considering that the budget for this film was a mere $17 million in comparison.
Last Updated: October 6, 2014
