Even with two major R-rated openers opening to bigger-than-expected takes, The Equalizer managed a good drop, dipping 44% to take $19 million in its second weekend. That is a better sophomore hold than other Denzel-led films like American Gangster and The Book of Eli. With $64.7 million after 10 days and a good weekend despite much competition, it seems that The Equalizer will continue to take in a lot of business this month. A final of over $100 million is likely, although not locked.
With three adult-skewing thrillers taking the top three spots, it is not surprising that films aimed at kids and teenagers had very strong holds this weekend. In fourth place was The Boxtrolls, which only dropped 28% from its opening weekend to make $12.4 million. With a $32.5 million cume so far, the film is currently slotted between ParaNorman ($28.3 million after 10 days) and Coraline ($35 million) in its run. Since those Laika Studios titles finished with around double their 10-day total in North America, expect The Boxtrolls to make around $65 million total. Of course, that will depend on how well the family-aimed Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day and The Book of Life perform over the next few weeks.
Meanwhile, bucking the trend for YA adaptations once again, The Maze Runner lost less than a third of its audience, dipping 31% to make $12 million in its third round. With excellent word-of-mouth and not much else out for teens this month, expect The Maze Runner to become one of the rare YA titles to finish with more than three times its opening weekend. (August’s If I Stay did so as well, due to a lack of competition for the audience.) With $73.9 million so far, a $100 final could happen if the film continues to perform well.
In sixth place was the Nicholas Cage faith-based drama Left Behind, which opened with an estimated $6.9 million. With little buzz and awful reviews, that is much better than anyone probably anticipated. As for other Christian-directed titles, that was less than God’s Not Dead ($9.2 million) and around the same as Fireproof from several autumns ago ($6.8 million, but from fewer than half the number of locations). With a B- CinemaScore and many other options out for adults now, though, expect Left Behind to vanish from theaters as quickly as Amy Dunne disappeared from her house.
With many choices for adults, two star-studded TIFF premieres bombed in their limited openings. The Good Lie, which stars Reese Witherspoon, made only $935,000 from 461 locations. With a per-theater average of around $2,000, that is pretty pathetic for a movie with such a big star and good reviews. (Fortunately, Witherspoon is a producer on Gone Girl, which fared much better.) Meanwhile, Men, Women & Children bombed, debuting in 17 locations but earning under $3,000 a theater to take in only $48,000 in its opening weekend. Despite an all-star cast, including Adam Sandler, Ansel Elgort and Jennifer Garner, awful reviews and little marketing did not make this title stand out in the marketplace. One wonders if Paramount will continue to expand Jason Reitman’s drama.
Here are the numbers for the Top 10 films at the North American box office for the weekend of October 3 through 5, 2014:
1. Gone Girl – $38 million (NEW)
2. Annabelle – $37.2 million (NEW)
3. The Equalizer – $19 million ($64.5 million total)
4. The Boxtrolls – $12.4 million ($32.5 million total)
5. The Maze Runner – $12 million ($73.9 million total)
6. Left Behind – $6.9 million (NEW)
7. This is Where I Leave You – $4 million ($29 million total)
8. Dolphin Tale 2 – $3.5 million ($38 million total)
9. Guardians of the Galaxy – $3 million ($323.4 million total)
10. No Good Deed – $2.5 million ($50.2 million total)
NOTE: These numbers are weekend estimates based on Friday and Saturday’s estimated takes. Actual numbers for the three-day weekend are reported on Monday afternoon.