Box Office Weekend 10/5 - GONE GIRL & ANNABELLE Open Big

[AndyDursin]

Most expected ANNABELLE to open big Friday and taper off -- but it didn't, so even though GONE GIRL is likely to win the weekend, the race is very, very close. Either way, ANNABELLE is a huge hit already on a tiny $6 mil budget. I mean, it's only a few million off from THE CONJURING! Total shocker.

And that's a big opening for GONE GIRL too. What will be interesting to see is if the word of mouth on GONE GIRL hurts the film at all, seeing as I can't stop hearing from people who've seen it how lousy the ending is.

Also impressive is how well THE MAZE RUNNER has done, bucking the trend of other "YA" pictures that open big and drop off fast. This film's drops have been very small every weekend compared to its genre, or even most films in general.

Collectively this was one of the biggest weekends for the movies in quite a while.

*Early Estimates*

1). Gone Girl (FOX), 3014 theaters / $13.2MFri. / 15.25MSat. /3-day est. cume: 38M/ Wk 1
2). Annabelle (WB), 3185 theaters /$15.45MFri. / 14.3MSat. / 3-day est. cume: $37M+/ Wk 1
3). The Equalizer (SONY), 3236 theaters (0)/ $5.6M Fri. / 8.4MSat. / $3-day est. cume: $18M+ (-44%) / Wk 2
4). The Boxtrolls (FOC), 3464 theaters (0)/ $2.7M Fri. / 6M+ Sat. / 3-day est. cume: $12.5M (-27%) / Wk 2
5). The Maze Runner (FOX), 3605 theaters (-33) / $3.4M Fri. / 5.5M Sat. /3-day est. cume: $12M / Wk 3