Halloween is traditionally the time for scary movies to arrive at the stateside box office, but with the holiday falling on a Friday this year, studios largely steered clear to avoid being affected by trick-or-treating or drunken parties. Still, US cinemagoers were clearly ready to experience Jake Gyllenhaal being a creepy – if all too human – character in Nightcrawler, and impressively the satirical drama appears to have taken the top spot at the box office.
Dan Gilroy’s film about the seedy underbelly of LA crime reporting just about edged ahead of last week’s chart-topper Ouija according to studio estimates, though with such a slim margin there’s a chance the board game-based horror pic could regain the crown when the final figures land Monday morning. Nightcrawler made $10.99 million in its first weekend, with Ouija slipping to second and $10.9 million.
That left a lot of the rest of the charts in place, with just a little jockeying around. David Ayer’s World War II tank thriller Fury stood its ground in third, taking in $9.1 million, which represents an impressive hold for a film in its third weekend on release. Gone Girl, which has just surpassed The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button to become director David Fincher’s most successful film in the US, stayed fourth for $8.8 million. The dark drama has earned $136.6 million domestically to date. In fifth, animated adventure The Book Of Life stayed put, adding $8.3 million.
The biggest mover was Keanu Reeves’ new hit man thriller John Wick, which suffered a hit of its own and fell from second to sixth place with $8 million (although in a low-earning field, it's really not that far behind the leaders). Bill Murray indie comedy St. Vincent was seventh, earning $7.7 million, while Disney’s live-action family film Alexander And The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day slipped one place to eighth, taking home $6.4 million. The Judge actually rose one place to ninth, earning $3.4 million, swapping slots with** Dracula Untold**, which landed at 10th with $2.9 million.
To see Jake Gyllenhaal report on the death of several teenagers from sheer stupidity in the full chart listings, head to Box Office Mojo.