Ouija is your clear winner this weekend, by which I mean there’s not all that much competition. This, believe it or not, is a Hasbro production, following the proud history of Transformers, G.I. Joe and Battleship.
TRIVIA: When was the last horror film to win an October weekend?
That would be Paranormal Activity 4 in 2012 with $29 million. This will be less than that, at $22.1 million, but that will still be enough to take the weekend with ease. I haven’t seen a production budget yet, but something tell me it will be around the cost of a few board games, but not much more. Same with the RT score, it’s not in yet, but expect it to be limbo low.
John Wick won’t do The Equalizer numbers, not even close, which I guess is the difference between Denzel Washington and Keanu Reeves at the box office. Or perhaps September vs. October? Regardless, this should be the title with the most upward momentum, just not enough to catch the #1 spot. It’s a pure international play, and I haven’t been too impressed with the trailers, they seem to feature only quotes from critics and one Keanu throwaway catchphrase. The movie itself? Fairly decent, a hard enough R for adults, plus it’s relatively straightforward and brisk. $13.5 million is my prediction.
Fury had a better CinemaScore than many thought it would, at A-, so the drop won’t be all that terrible. Dipping it 44 percent leads us to a number around $13.3 million so that’s what I’m going with. There aren’t any international numbers in on this title yet, hard to tell whether those will be good news or not. Is it too American? Or does Brad Pitt save the day? It’s odd it didn’t go international last weekend, but it’s getting something like 30 markets this weekend.
Gone Girl is our final competitor of the weekend, she of the lovely holdover numbers. It’s already in the black at $200 million worldwide (due to the reasonable production budget). I’m calling for $11.9 million this weekend, a 30 percent drop. This girl isn’t going from the box office just yet! Sorry. Had to.
Aaaaaaaand now it’s your turn. Get in there are predict!
Current Record: 49-96-5 against the wisdom of the crowds
SIDE NOTE: Some of the theater numbers below are estimates. We’ll have the actual counts in Sunday’s wrap-up article.
