Box Office Weekend: Nightcrawler Squeaks by Ouija

Box office revenue as a whole dropped to September-level numbers after a decent October, but the biggest surprise, perhaps, is that the new release Nightcrawler, starring Jake Gyllenhaal, just barely topped the winner of last week, Ouija, in numbers even an estimate is too close to call (with Nightcrawler a few thousand ahead in an estimated $10.9 million race). While Nightcrawler is getting rave critical reviews, its unreleased budget numbers make it a wild card in box office earnings, while Ouija went down the low budget road and came up a winner; despite terrible reviews, Ouija sails home a winner with $35 million in earnings over a $5 million budget.

Third and fourth lay claim to the biggest winners at the box office, with third-place finisher Fury still toying with the chances of breaking even domestically, though still falling short with an estimated $9.1 million weekend. Gone Girl has more than doubled its budget, the David Fincher-directed, Ben Affleck-starring thriller picking up an estimated $8.8 million and $136.6 million in domestic earnings. The Book of Life, meanwhile, has impressed critics but failed to pick up equal commercial backing, earning an estimated $8.3 million and, like Fury, still struggling to break even domestically.

John Wick, too, seems to have failed to find commercial appeal, despite critics liking Keanu Reeves’ latest effort far more than the abysmally performing 47 Ronin. Still unwilling to release its budget numbers, things do not look good for the action thriller, an estimated $8.1 million adding to a $27.6 million domestic total. However, the numbers have not come back on St. Vincent either. The comedy drama starring Bill Murray, which opened to wide release last week, picked up an estimated $7.8 million this weekend and only $19.5 million in domestic earnings so far.

At the bottom of the pack, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day has fared the best, at least, if only counting domestic gross. With an estimated $6.5 million, it trounced The Judge (estimated $3.4 million) and Dracula Untold (estimated $2.9 million) in both weekend earnings and overall earnings domestically. Dracula Untold, however, is the big winner of the three worldwide with $189 million, which could be potential go-ahead for Universal to continue with its “Classic Monster” reboots.

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Seth Paul

When not failing to write novels and screenplays, box-office guru Seth writes humorous comedy tracks for films under the name "The One Man Band" that can be found at Rifftrax.com. Although, he has recently succeeded in writing the novella "Jack Alan and the Case of the Not-Exactly Rocket Scientists," available as an eBook on Amazon. He is also the English voice of Zak in "Zak McKracken: Between Time and Space."

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