UPDATED SATURDAY, 11:58 P.M.: A pair of low-budget thrillers turned the Halloween weekend into a battleground as Nightcrawler and Ouija squared off over a box office derby depleted by trick-or-treaters. And while both will be forgotten by the time Christopher Nolan’s sci-fi opus Interstellar and Disney’s animated Big Hero 6 arrive next week, some executives wedged in an overcrowded calendar may regret letting an October weekend go unchallenged.
Nightcrawler should land somewhere around $ 10-$ 11M+, putting the $ 8.5 million crime story in the black by the end of its opening weekend. The film has become a critical favorite since it splashed at the Toronto Film Festival, and has garnered a 94% on Rotten Tomatoes, making it one of the best-reviewed major releases of the year. It’s future is in doubt, though, as a B- Cinemascore won’t help word of mouth and adults will flock to next week’s Christopher Nolan sci-fi opus Interstellar. Produced and financed by Bold Films, the R-rated Nightcrawler also starred Bill Paxton, Rene Russo and Riz Ahmed. If it takes No. 1, it will be Gyllenhaal’s fourth box office crown, after Prisoners, End of Watch and The Day After Tomorrow opened at the top of the charts.
But it wasn’t star power that propelled the pic. Open Road saw an opening on Halloween, which landed on a Friday for the first time in six years. All Hallows Eve usually trims at least 15% from sales for the weekend, and none of the major houses wanted to compete with trick-or-treaters or costume parties. Credit the studio with an astute gamble
Less astute: The only other newcomer, the Nicole Kidman-Colin Firth thriller Before I Go To Sleep, which had critics and audiences needing a nap. Middling exits left it a blip on the charts this weekend, leaving the Clarius Entertainment pic outside the top 10.
That left only Ouija as a viable challenger to the top spot. The micro-budget horror film has flourished in the dearth of fright flicks this weekend, and has been seeing drops of less than 50% — unheard of for cheap horror. But it won on the race on Friday and has lingered around the top spot respectably for a front-loaded pic. It also scored $ 10-$ 11M — an exponential return on a $ 5M film.
The rest of the top five went to holdovers, the most impressive being Gone Girl, which took fifth place in its fifth week with $ 7M+, propelling the bestseller adaptation to the record books as director David Fincher’s biggest movie on record at $ 134M+. The Brad Pitt-starrer Fury also has found a third-week foothold, fending off John Wick to take third place. Like Lone Survivor, Fury is playing well in the middle of the country.
1/2) Nightcrawler (OPRD), 2,766 theaters / $ 3.1M Fri. (includes $ 515K late nights) / $ 4.8M Sat. (50%) / $ 2.8M Sun. (-40%) / 3-day cume: $ 10M-11M / Wk 1
Ouija (UNI), 2,899 theaters (+41)/ $ 3.4M Fri. / $ 5.2M Sat. (50%) / $ 3.1M Sun. (-40%) / 3-day cume: $ 11.7M (-41%)/ Total cume: $ 35M+/ Wk 2
3). Fury (SONY), 3,313 theaters (+140) / $ 1.9M Fri. / $ 4.3M Sat. (120%) / $ 2.7M Sun. (-35%) / 3-day cume: $ 8M to 9M/ Total cume: $ 60.1M / Wk 3
4). John Wick (LGF), 2,589 theaters / $ 1.8M Fri. / $ 3.6M Sat. (100%) / $ 2.3M Sun. (-35%) / 3-day cume: $ 7.7M (-47%)/ Total cume: 27.3M/ Wk 2
5). Gone Girl (FOX), 2,834 theaters (-272) / $ 1.8M Fri. / $ 4.6M Sat. (155%) / $ 2.5M Sun. (-45%) / 3-day cume: $ 8M+ / Total cume: $ 135.3M/ Wk 5
UPDATED SATURDAY, 10:34 a.m.: With stellar reviews and a dearth of competition, Jake Gyllenhaal’s crime thriller Nightcrawler will creep past Ouija‘s Friday night victory to claim a box office win on a weekend carved up by Halloween. The film, which has had critics’ tongues wagging since it splashed at the Toronto Film Festival, stands at a 93% approval ratings, and solid reviews suggest the R-rated pic could see a robust hold through the week — until Christopher Nolan’s sci-fi epic Interstellar and Disney’s animated feast Big Hero 6 overwhelm theaters.
Ultimately, though, there was no competing with trick-or-treaters. When Halloween falls on a Friday, a day that typically accounts for 35% of weekend ticket sales, revenues drop to about 20%. Still, Nightcrawler will likely find around $ 12M in Halloween weekend goodies — a solid return on a film that cost $ 8.5M. Its score on Rotten Tomatoes makes it one of the best-reviewed wide release movies of 2014. But a B- Cinemascore has to put its word-of-mouth prospects in doubt, even with the positive reviews. This will be a short-lived reign.
Nightcrawler faced tougher-than-usual competition from a horror pic, this time in Ouija, the micro-budget chiller that claimed first place last weekend with $ 19.8M. The Blumhouse Prods. flick will see a slighter decline than most fright pics in their sophomore frames, which routinely drop 70% in follow-up weekends. But even a 50% drop from last weekend — a terrific hold for disposable horror — will likely put it at $ 10M+ and second place. With a budget of $ 5M, Ouija marks the kind of success from a board game adaptation that distributor Universal didn’t see with 2012’s Battleship, a $ 209M pic that returned just $ 65.4M domestically.
Fury, Brad Pitt’s World War II saga, will probably claim third place in its third weekend, underscoring a drop of about 35% from the previous weekend and rising above Keanu Reeve’s bloody shoot-em-up John Wick, whose trajectory has it around $ 8.5M+ and fourth place.
Gone Girl, meanwhile, has demonstrated the longest legs of fall. The David Fincher-Ben Affleck thriller looks to collect another $ 7M+, which would bring its five week total north of $ 135M, officially making it Fincher’s biggest movie on record, eclipsing 2008’s The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, which earned $ 127.5M.
The only other major newcomer, the Nicole Kidman-Colin Firth amnesia thriller Before I Go To Sleep, hit the snooze button before the weekend. Though always-unreliable tracking had the Clarius Entertainment pic doing $ 5-$ 7M, the British thriller, adapted from S.J. Watson’s novel, will have trouble cracking the top 10. It’s flirting with a bow of around only $ 2M, out of the top 10. As this movie is skewing older, its C+ Cinemascore will likely spell little word of mouth and a brief shelf life in theaters.
Finally, there’s Saw, celebrating its 10th anniversary. Once a staple of Halloween viewing, the franchise makes a farewell theatrical bow with $ 730k+, well below the swan song prognosticators expected. Lionsgate planned this only as a one-week release, so, unlike Jigsaw’s prisoners, the end here will be quick and painless.
Notable: Michael Keaton’s Birdman continues to do strong per-screen numbers. In its third weekend, the Fox Searchlight story about a washed-up movie superhero added 181 screens this weekend, bringing it to 231 theaters. It’s still drawing a crowd, averaging more than $ 9,000 per date and circling a 13th place finish and cume of $ 4.5M+.
The Friday night chart:
1). Nightcrawler (OPRD), 2,766 theaters / $ 3.05M Fri. (includes $ 515K late nights) / $ 5.5M Sat. (80%) / $ 3.2Sun. (-40%) / 3-day cume: $ 11.7M to $ 12M / Wk 1
2). Ouija (UNI), 2,899 theaters (+41)/ $ 3M Fri. / $ 4.6M Sat. (50%) / $ 2.7M Sun. (-40%) / 3-day cume: $ 10.4M (-47%)/ Total cume: $ 34.5M/ Wk 2
3). Fury (SONY), 3,313 theaters(+140) / $ 1.9M Fri. / $ 3.8M Sat. (100%) / $ 2.4M Sun. (-35%) / 3-day cume: $ 8M to 9M/ Total cume: $ 60.5M / Wk 3
4). John Wick (LGF), 2,589 theaters / $ 1.8M Fri. / $ 3.6M Sat. (100%) / $ 2.3M Sun. (-35%) / 3-day cume: $ 7.7M to $ 8M (-45%)/ Total cume: 28.2M/ Wk 2
5). Gone Girl (FOX), 2,834 theaters (-272) / $ 1.8M Fri. / $ 3.4M Sat. (90%) / $ 1.8M Sun. (-45%) / 3-day cume: $ 7M+ / Total cume: $ 135.3M/ Wk 5
6). Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day (DIS), 2896 theaters (-221) / $ 937K Fri. / $ 3.7M Sat. (300%) / $ 2.2M Sun. (-40%) / 3-day cume: $ 6.9M / Total cume: $ 54.1M / Wk 4
7). St. Vincent (TWC), 2,552 theaters (+270) / $ 1.6M Fri. / $ 3M Sat. (80%) / $ 1.8M Sun. (-40%) / 3-day cume: $ 6.5M/ Total cume: $ 18.3M / Wk 4
8). The Book of Life (FOX), 2,794 theaters (-319) / $ 1M Fri. / $ 3.1M Sat. (200%) / $ 2.3M Sun. (-25%) / 3-day cume: $ 6.4M / Total cume: $ 38.7M / Wk 3
9). The Judge (WB), 1,942 theaters (-668) /$ 929K Fri. / $ 1.8M Sat. (100%) / $ 1.1M Sun. (-40%) / 3-day cume: $ 3.8M / Total cume: $ 40M / Wk 4
10). Dracula Untold (UNI), 1,913 theaters (-451) / $ 758K Fri. / $ 1.1M Sat. (45%) / $ 715K Sun. (-35%) / 3-day cume: $ 2.5M / Total cume: $ 52.5M / Wk 4
UPDATED FRIDAY 9:23 a.m.: Nightcrawler crept to a half-million head start in the weekend box office. The Jake Gyllenhaal thriller collected $ 515k in screenings that began at 7 p.m. in some markets. It’s nowhere near the Thursday haul of Dracula Untold, which sucked up $ 1.3 million earlier this month. But for an $ 8.5 million pic, the opening is solid-if-unspectacular.
The question is whether Gyllenhaal will continue to establish himself as a solid lead in dark thrillers. He’s anchored Zodiac and End of Watch to solid debuts, and exits suggest audiences are reacting to this one they way they did last year’s excellent Gyllenhaal kidnap film Prisoners, which debuted to $ 20.8 million last year. But that movie had the added star power of Hugh Jackman.
The Halloween weekend won’t offer much of a social media push for Dan Gilroy’s first feature film. RelishMix said R-rated flick has mustered just 6.4 million hits on YouTube, Facebook and Twitter. The only other major newcomer this weekend, the Nicole Kidman-Colin Firth thriller Before I Go To Sleep, managed to tally 9.7 million clicks, but its older audience will keep it out of the top spot this weekend.
More details as Friday numbers roll in…
THURSDAY, 11: 15 a.m.: Halloween is typically a frightful time for the box office, but with it landing on a Friday, the big studios are avoiding the weekend like a black cat. That will leave Open Road’s newcomer Nightcrawler and Universal’s Ouija in its second frame to pick over the remains left by trick-or-treating parents and costume-clad weekend partiers.
Likely to lead the flimsy Halloween parade is Nightcrawler, Jake Gyllenhaal’s indie thriller about a crime videographer with a questionable moral compass investigating a Los Angeles underworld without one. Produced and financed by Bold Films for about $ 8.5M, the R-rated thriller will open on 2,766 screens and should stash $ 12M to $ 14M. The movie, which enticed Gyllenhaal and co-star Bill Paxton to train with real freelance video journalists, also stars Rene Russo and Riz Ahmed. The movie, which opens at 7 PM Thursday in some markets, scored a 71 in Fandango’s survey of fan anticipation, highest among all newcomers.
The directorial debut of The Bourne Legacy screenwriter Dan Gilroy, Nightcrawler has been earning solid early reviews since its bow at the Toronto Film Festival, scoring an impressive 96% on Rotten Tomatoes. The wild card here is Gyllenhaal, an actor known for indie tastes, but who has seen solid returns in movies such as 2004’s The Day After Tomorrow ($ 186.7M) and Prince Of Persia, which collected $ 90.7M in 2010. Another Gyllenhaal pic, LA-based crime thriller End Of Watch, opened to $ 13.1M, good for No. 1 in September 2012. If he comes anywhere near his wide-release average of $ 18.3M, Nightcrawler could be a runaway race with so few contenders.
Among them, though, is likely going to be Ouija in its second week. Though the micro-budgeted pic from Blumhouse Prods. has fallen as far as third place in daily grosses this week, the dearth of horror films will likely propel it back up the charts for the weekend. It’s accounting for 69% of Fandango sales, second only to Nightcrawler. and the $ 5M pic could scare up as much as $ 10M, which would propel the movie to second place for the weekend and lift its cume well above $ 30M, another coup for a dirt-cheap film that will likely benefit from horror fans bored with the Friday The 13th marathons on basic cable. While horror routinely drops 60% to 70% in its second frame, a 50% hold could put the film in striking range of consecutive No. 1s.
For those seeking a little star power, there’s Before I Go to Sleep, Nicole Kidman’s crime thriller co-starring Colin Firth. Adapted from S.J. Watson’s novel by director-screenwriter Rowan Jaffe (2010’s Brighton Rock) and produced by Ridley Scott, Sleep tells the story of a woman who wakes up every day and remembers nothing due to a traumatic incident. Some critics are wishing they couldn’t remember it, giving it a mediocre early approval rating of only about 53%. But the movie is tracking strongest with females aged 17 to 34. Distributed by Clarius Entertainment, the British sci-fi flick is opening on just 1,700 screens, likely ensuring a middling bow of about $ 5M to $ 7M.
For those who are tired of the TV horror reruns, we have the cinematic redux in Saw’s 10th anniversary release. Once the gold standard of Halloween horror, the gore-fest disappeared four years ago with Saw 3D. The original opened to $ 18.2M a decade ago and would launch a seven-movie series and the career of director James Wan. Don’t expect much nostalgia from torture-porn fans, though, as the re-release will likely carve up just $ 2M to $ 3M this weekend on 1,850 screens.
Among the holdover, look for Keanu Reeve’s ultra violent shoot-em-up John Wick to linger on the charts, along with Fox’s visual bonanza The Book Of Life. Wick has enjoyed better-than-expected reviews and word-of-mouth and has topped the daily charts this week, while the animated Life will continue to feed audiences starved for family fare.
And, this weekend, will see 
David Fincher’s Gone Girl becoming the director’s highest-grossing feature, eclipsing The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button’s haul of $ 127.5M six years ago. As of last night, the total domestic gross was 126.9M.
Of course, those Halloween offerings will turn into pumpkins next week as studios begin their fall season charge in earnest. Paramount’s sci-fi opus Interstellar and Disney’s animated juggernaut Big Hero 6 storm multiplexes next week to likely maintain fall’s robust sales pace, which is running 6.2% ahead of last year.
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