‘Nightcrawler’ scares up Halloween box office, Kidman flops
In this image released by Open Road Films, Jake Gyllenhaal appears in a scene from the film, “Nightcrawler.” AP
LOS ANGELES – Creepy thriller “Nightcrawler” edged out horror movie “Ouija” in the Halloween weekend box office battle in North America, estimated figures showed Sunday.
“Nightcrawler”, which stars Jake Gyllenhaal as a sleazy videojournalist who patrols Los Angeles at night hunting for gory footage to sell to a local television network, opened with $10.9 million.
Just a fraction behind in second spot was horror movie “Ouija,” estimates from box office tracker Exhibitor Relations showed.
Third place was taken by Brad Pitt World War II tank drama “Fury,” with $9.1 million, ahead of David Fincher thriller “Gone Girl” starring Ben Affleck, which added another $8.8 million to its five-week haul.
Animated comedy “The Book of Life,” featuring the voices of Zoe Saldana and Channing Tatum, was in fifth place at $8.3 million.
“John Wick,” starring Keanu Reeves as an ex-hitman who returns from retirement to take revenge on gangsters who attacked him, raked in just under $8.1 million in ticket sales to take sixth place.
“St. Vincent,” a comedy starring Bill Murray, Melissa McCarthy and Naomi Watts, held onto seventh place. The film, about a young boy who befriends the crusty war veteran living next door, earned $7.8 million.
Disney’s “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day” – based on a children’s book of the same name and starring Steve Carell and Jennifer Garner – came in eighth place at just under $6.5 million.
Legal drama “The Judge,” pairing Robert Duvall and Robert Downey Jr, was ninth with $3.4 million.
Action-horror film “Dracula Untold” – depicting the vampire as a flawed hero in a tragic love tale – rounded out the top 10 with $2.9 million.
Elsewhere this weekend, Nicole Kidman suffered her worst ever large scale opening in the the thriller “Before I Go to Sleep,” which took just over $2 million after a wide release across 1,935 theaters.
The movie stars the Australian Oscar-winner opposite Colin Firth as a woman suffering from chronic amnesia who wakes up every morning with no recollection of her life from her early 20s onwards.
The weak opening marks another disappointing flop for Kidman after “Grace of Monaco,” which was booed at the Cannes festival earlier this year and savaged by critics.
