By Leonard Klady Klady@moviecitynews.com
The Weekend Report
The session proved to be a horse race between Gone Girl and horror prequel Annabelle. Initial estimates gave the fatal housewife of the former a slight edge of $38.1 million with the less than cuddly title doll not far behind with $37.1 million. The frame’s other wide debut, the less-than-Rapturous Left Behind, grossed a less-than-inspirational $6.7 million.
The ripped-from-headlines saga of Sudanese refugees in The Good Lie bowed in 461 theaters to a disappointing $920,000. Other limited misses included the animated The Hero of Color City with $23,300 at 68 venues and the saga of Simon Bolivar in The Liberator with a $66,100 tally from 78 screens.
Holidays in India saw torrid activity in that niche with Bang Bang at the top with $1.2 million and Haider also solid with $504,000. The Telegu Govindudu Andarivadele got hurt by the competition and finished with $352,000. Chinese import Breakup Buddies generated a buoyant $243,000 from a mere 20 locations.
Exclusive newcomers were largely DOA including internet scare tale Men, Women & Children that bowed to $47,800 at 17 sites.
Overall the frame generated roughly $152 million for a sizable 42% boost from the prior weekend. It was also 20% better than the 2013 session when Gravity bowed to $55.8 million with the second weekend of Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 in the bridesmaid spot with $20.9 million.
Leading up to the weekend one could see the gap narrowing between Gone Girl and Annabelle in tracking studies and some pundits pondered the notion of an upset. However in the end the bestseller took bragging rights with numbers of the high side of expectations. Studio exit polling identified an opening crowd that was 60% female with 75% of the audience aged 25-years and older.
Gone Girl also opened in 39 international territories with initial estimates of more than $24 million.
Annabelle’s prequelling of The Conjuring clarified pundit crystal balling that set its opening at no higher than $30 million. It showed a slight 51% female tilt but attracted a considerably younger demo with 54% of viewers aged 25-years and younger. It also stepped out internationally in 21 nations and grossed $20 million.
Gone Girl provided the narrative of the upcoming award season with a vibrant start and set a high bar for the flood of movies to follow.
| Weekend (estimates) October 3 – 5, 2014 | |||||
| Title | Distributor | Gross (average) | % change * | Theaters | Cume |
| Gone Girl | Fox | 38.1 (12,630) | NEW | 3014 | 38.1 |
| Annabelle | WB | 37.1 (11,660) | NEW | 3185 | 37.1 |
| The Equalizer | Sony | 18.7 (5,770) | -45% | 3236 | 64.2 |
| The Maze Runner | Fox | 12.0 (3,320) | -31% | 3605 | 73.9 |
| The Boxtrolls | Focus | 12.4 (3,590) | -28% | 3464 | 32.6 |
| Left Behind | FreeStyle | 6.7 (3,660) | NEW | 1825 | 6.7 |
| This is Where I Leave You | WB | 4.0 (1,460) | -42% | 2735 | 29 |
| Dolphin Tale 2 | WB | 3.5 (1,260) | -26% | 2790 | 38 |
| Guardians of the Galaxy | BV | 3.0 (1,590) | -20% | 1894 | 323.4 |
| No Good Dead | Sony | 2.5 (1,570) | -45% | 1580 | 50.1 |
| A Walk Among the Tombstones | Uni/eOne | 2.0 (890) | -52% | 2226 | 24.5 |
| Bang Bang | Fox Intl | 1.2 (4,580) | NEW | 265 | 1.4 |
| The Good Lie | WB | .92 (2,000) | NEW | 461 | 0.92 |
| Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles | Par | .74 (890) | -49% | 834 | 188.3 |
| Let’s Be Cops | Fox | .73 (940) | -52% | 781 | 80.9 |
| The Skeleton Twins | Roadside Attractions | .71 (1,540) | -42% | 461 | 3.5 |
| Haider | UTV | .50 (4,230) | NEW | 119 | 0.54 |
| My Old Lady | Cohen Media | .47 (1,780) | -18% | 263 | 2.2 |
| If I Stay | WB | .40 (720) | -58% | 555 | 49.8 |
| Goviindudu Andarivadele | CineGalaxy | .35 (2,550) | NEW | 138 | 0.65 |
| The Hundred-Foot Journey | BV | .31 (870) | -49% | 360 | 53.2 |
| Mommy | Seville | .31 (3,790) | 47% | 82 | 1.5 |
| The Drop | Fox Searchlight | .26 (600) | -75% | 429 | 10.4 |
| The Giver | Weinstein Co. | .25 (680) | -40% | 371 | 44.2 |
| Breakup Buddies | China Lion | .24 (12,150) | NEW | 20 | 0.24 |
| Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) | $144.80 | ||||
| % Change (Last Year) | 20% | ||||
| % Change (Last Week) | 42% | ||||
| Also debuting/expanding | |||||
| Hector and the Search for Happiness | Relativity | .22 (1,200) | 7% | 183 | 0.6 |
| The Song | IDP | .21 (610) | -63% | 340 | 0.9 |
| Boyhood | IFC/Mongrel | .15 (1,070) | -34% | 138 | 23.4 |
| Pride | CBS/Remstar | .12 (3,560) | 22% | 34 | 0.26 |
| Love is Strange | Sony Classics | .12 (870) | -35% | 134 | 2 |
| The Trip to Italy | IFC/eOne | 94,600 (680) | -55% | 139 | 3.3 |
| Tracks | Weinstein Co. | 92,800 (1,390) | 31% | 67 | 0.23 |
| Jimi: All is By My Side | Xlrator | 91,500 (1,220) | -6% | 75 | 0.23 |
| The Liberator | Cohen Media | 66,100 (850) | 78 | 0.07 | |
| Men, Women & Children | Par | 47,800 (2,810) | 17 | 0.05 | |
| The Two Faces of January | Magnolia | 41,700 (2,450) | -3% | 17 | 0.1 |
| Nas: Time is Illmanic | TriBeCa | 29,300 (5,860) | 5 | 0.11 | |
| 16 Stones | Candlelight | 25,400 (1,020) | 25 | 0.03 | |
| The Hero of Color City | Magnolia | 23,300 (340) | 68 | 0.02 | |
| The Blue Room | IFC | 21,200 (7,030) | 3 | 0.02 | |
| A Good Marriage | Screen Media | 8,300 (640) | 13 | 0.01 | |
| The 100 Year Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window … | Metropole | 7,200 (1,800) | 4 | 0.01 | |
| Slow Video | Fox Intl | 6,300 (6,300) | 1 | 0.01 | |
| The Decent One | Kino | 4,600 (4,600) | 1 | 0.01 | |
| Copenhagen | Level 33 | 3,700 (1,850) | 2 | 0.01 | |
| Domestic Market Share (Jan. 1 – Oct. 2, 2014) | |||||
| Distributor (releases) | Box Office | Market Share | |||
| 20th Century Fox (16) | 1328.5 | 17.00% | |||
| Buena Vista (14) | 1267.8 | 16.30% | |||
| Warner Bros. (20) | 1160.6 | 14.90% | |||
| Sony (20) | 1042.8 | 13.40% | |||
| Universal (15) | 848.3 | 10.90% | |||
| Paramount (12) | 828.6 | 10.60% | |||
| Lionsgate (18) | 363.3 | 4.70% | |||
| Weinstein Co. (20) | 158.6 | 2.00% | |||
| Relativity (8) | 137.1 | 1.80% | |||
| Open Road (7) | 120.5 | 1.50% | |||
| Fox Searchlight (8) | 102.9 | 1.30% | |||
| FreeStyle (8) | 87.6 | 1.10% | |||
| Focus (9) | 63.7 | 0.80% | |||
| eOne/Seville (25) | 49.5 | 0.60% | |||
| Other * (270) | 241.8 | 3.10% | |||
| 7801.6 | 100% | ||||
| * none greater than 0.4% | |||||
