Weekend Wrap-Up

Ouija Wins; Wick Stronger Than Expected

By John Hamann

October 26, 2014

Later, they're going to run into a shed full of chainsaws.

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Finishing second is a better, happier story about redemption. It’s John Wick, the revenge thriller starring Keanu Reeves, who’s been in the collective penalty box since 2003, serving time for The Matrix Revolutions. John Wick is rare bird from Keanu Reeves, a critically-loved, well-made action film that looks like it will make some money. Given the release date, I don’t think Lionsgate and Summit Entertainment had much faith in this one, but a glowing 86% fresh rating boosted John Wick to $14.2 million, and while it certainly didn’t break out, this small, $5.5 million budgeted revenger did what it needed to this weekend. In fact, this one doubled up on expectations, as tracking was looking for only $7 million. It would appear that adults bypassed Ouija and came out for John Wick.

For Keanu Reeves, this puts the whole 47 Ronin saga behind him. 47 Ronin was the 2013 Christmas movie that flopped badly, earning only $38 million stateside against a $175 million budget. Ronin did go on to earn $112 million outside of North America, but even the worldwide gross failed to match the production budget. The Day The Earth Stood Still was another much anticipated but largely disappointing feature from Reeves. It cost $80 million to make and had a gross that failed to match the production budget stateside, despite opening beyond $30 million. John Wick brings Reeves back to the smarter films he used to make (The Matrix, A Scanner Darkly, My Own Private Idaho).

Finishing third is Fury, which manages to stay ahead of Gone Girl for a second straight weekend. After debuting last weekend to a decent but not spectacular $23.7 million, the Brad Pitt WWII flick fell 45% in its second weekend, earning $13 million. Like the opening, the second weekend result is neither really good nor really bad, but the box office keeps the film on pace to at least match its $68 million production budget stateside. Overseas results will be coming in shortly, as it rolled out to a number of territories this weekend. So far, Fury has earned $46.1 million for Sony’s Columbia Pictures.




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Fourth place goes to Gone Girl, now four weekends old and running out of new sets of eyeballs to display to. This weekend, the Ben Affleck R-rated thriller earned another $11.1 million, dropping 37%. It’s a massive hit both domestically and abroad, as David Fincher’s shot at Oscar has earned $124.1 million stateside,and had a little over $100 million from overseas theaters heading into the weekend. Domestically, $150 million isn’t out of the question, a great score versus a $61 million budget.

The Book of Life, the animated film about The Day of the Dead, falls to fifth and tumbles hard for a kids' movie. After debuting last weekend to $17 million, the Guillermo del Toro produced film finds only $9.8 million this weekend, giving it a surprising drop of 42%. Made for $50 million, this 20th Century Fox release is all of a sudden in a bit of trouble, unless overseas audiences prop it up. Domestically, The Book of Life has pulled in $29.9 million, along with $8 million overseas, albeit from a very small handful of markets.


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