Box Office Results: Gone Girl Can’t Win Again Over Brad Pitt’s Fury

The ComingSoon.net Box Office Report has been updated with studio estimates for the weekend. Click here for the full box office estimates of the top 12 films and then check back on Monday for the final figures based on actual box office.

The third weekend of October slowed down slightly with the Brad Pitt WWII movie Fury, directed by David Ayer (End of Watch) and co-starring Logan Lerman, Shia LaBeouf, Jon Bernthal and Michael Pena, opening on Thursday night in 3173 theaters. After grossing $8.8 million on Friday (including Thursday previews), it took in an estimated $23.5 million for the weekend. That’s the best opening for Ayer as a director, although his involvement as a writer on films like The Fast and the Furious and the remake of S.W.A.T. both had better openings. It’s a significantly lower opening than other WWII movies such as Steven Spielberg’s Saving Private Ryan and Quentin Tarantino’s Inglourious Basterds, which also starred Brad Pitt.

David Fincher’s Gone Girl (20th Century Fox), starring Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike, dropped to second place but held up well with $17.8 million, off just 30% in its third weekend, as it crossed the $100 million mark with $107.1 million.

Produced by Guillermo del Toro, Jorge Gutierez’s animated adventure The Book of Life, featuring the voices of Diego Luna, Channing Tatum, Zoe Saldana, Ice Cube, Ron Perlman and more, opened in third place with an estimated $17 million in 3,069 theaters, averaging $5,500 per site.

Disney’s family comedy Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, starring Steve Carell and Jennifer Garner, took fourth place with $12 million and $36.9 grossed domestically.

The latest Nicholas Sparks romantic drama Best of Me (Relativity), starring Michelle Monaghan, James Marsden, Luke Bracey and Liana Liberato, scored the lowest opening for one of his adaptations ever with an estimated $10.2 million in 2,936 theaters for fifth place. It had a weak per-theater average of less than $3,500 per location.

Universal Pictures’ monster prequel Dracula Untold, starring Luke Evans, took a hefty 58% plunge in its second weekend to take sixth place with $9.9 million with $40.7 million grossed domestically. Overseas, the movie scored $22.5 million to bring its international total to $95.7 million.

Seventh place was a very close race between two returning movies, but the Robert Downey-Robert Duvall dramedy The Judge (Warner Bros.) came out just ahead of New Line’s horror prequel Annabelle with just over $7.9 million each. The former has grossed $26.8 million since opening last weekend while Annabelle has grossed $74.1 million domestically.

Denzel Washington as The Equalizer (Sony) added another $5.5 million to its domestic take of $89.2 million, and the Top 10 was rounded out by The Maze Runner (20th Century Fox) with $4.5 million as it also crept its way to $100 million with $90.8 million grossed domestically so far.

The Top 10 grossed approximately $116 million this weekend which is up from last year when Alfonso Cuaron’s Gravity and Tom Hanks’ Captain Phillips, remained in the top two places against the opening of MGM’s Carrie remake, which opened with $16.1 million.

Jason Reitman’s ensemble drama Men, Women & Children (Paramount), starring Adam Sandler and Jennifer Garner, expanded nationwide on Friday into 608 theaters where it grossed just $320 thousand, not even doing as well as some of the new limited releases with a pitiful per-theater average of $526.

Meanwhile, Alejandro Inarritu’s acclaimed Birdman (Fox Searchlight, starring Michael Keaton, Edward Norton, Emma Stone and more, opened with $415 thousand in just 4 New York and L.A. theaters, a terrific per-theater average of $103.7 thousand. While that’s a higher per-theater average than Richard Linklater’s acclaimed Boyhood (another serious Oscar contender), it’s nearly half what Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel averaged when it opened in the same number of theaters back in early March. That movie went on to gross $59 million, being one of Anderson’s biggest hits, and we expect Birdman will follow suit for Inarritu on its way to Oscar night.

Longtime CS pal, filmmaker Justin Simien’s debut Dear White People (Roadside Attractions) opened in 11 theaters in select cities, where it grossed an equally impressive $344 thousand or $31.3 thousand per location.

The latest Studio Ghibli animated film The Tale of the Princess Kaguya opened in a single location in New York, Los Angeles and Toronto, where it took in an estimated $51.7 thousand.

Alex Ross Perry’s comedy Listen Up Philip (Tribeca Film), starring Jason Schwartzman and Elisabeth Moss, opened in two theaters in New York City where it grossed an estimated $24.2 thousand.

The Bill Murray and Melissa McCarthy comedy St. Vincent (The Weinstein Co.) added another $685 thousand this weekend as it expanded into 68 locations as it prepares for a much wider expansion this coming Friday.

Click here for the full box office estimates of the top 12 films.