Opening the week before Halloween, the Hasbro board game-based film Ouija topped the box office with an estimated $20 million, which was more than enough top another newcomer, John Wick, the balls-to-the-wall action film that earned $14.1 million.  Along with a strong slate of holdovers, the two newcomers powered Hollywood to yet another solid weekend with the total of the top 12 films 8.2% over the same weekend last year when Jackass’ Bad Grandpa debuted with $32 million.  Meanwhile Guardians of the Galaxy, which finally opened in Italy, boosted its worldwide total to $752.6 million as it soared past X-Men: Days of Future Past to become the #1 global box office hit of 2014 so far.
 
Originally conceived as a $100 million Michael Bay-produced blockbusters, Ouija was scaled down to an under $20 million production from low-budget horror producer Blumhouse Productions after the disastrous failure of another Hasbro-based film, the bloated bomb also known as Battleship.  The result is a modest "horror" film that Universal did a great job of marketing to females.  With a cast of inexpensive young TV stars, Ouija didn’t impress the critics (just a 10% positive rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes) or audiences, which gave the film a poor "C" CInemaScore, but Universal should come out a lot better on this version of Ouija, than it would have if the film had been an effects-loaded, bloated $100 million dollar attempt to inflate a brand (Ouija) with a very small footprint.   Universal’s marketing delivered an audience that was 61% female, and 75% under 25 with 39% of the audience Hispanic, 31% Caucasian, and 12% African-American.
 
In contrast the "R-rated" action-packed revenge thriller John Wick, which stars Keanu Reeves and was directed by former stuntman Chad Stahelski, earned a sterling 86% positive rating on Rotten Tomatoes and attracted an audience that was 60% male and 75% over 25.  While a $14 debut is hardly spectacular, it was almost twice as much as some analysts had forecast, and it provides a much needed spark to Reeves’ career, which was not helped by the total disaster that was 47 Ronin.  While there isn’t much new in terms of narrative in John Wick, each of the film’s many action scenes is meticulously staged with great stunt work and solid camera placements.  John Wick may not end up with a huge domestic box office total, but it has an excellent shot to become a "cult" favorite among action movie fans.
 
Last week’s winner, the grim World War II tank drama Fury dropped just 45.2% in its second frame as it added $13 million bringing its domestic total to $46 million.  The $68 million film should easily earn over $80 million here and should also do well overseas where Brad Pitt is well known and where the film earned $11.2 million from several territories where it opened this weekend.
 
David Fincher’s Gone Girl remains the most potent of this year’s fall "adult" releases.  It landed at #4 in its fourth weekend in theaters thanks to just a 36.6% drop that allowed the film to add $11.1 million to bring its domestic total to $124 million.  By this time next week Gone Girl will be the highest-grossing film of Fincher’s career as it will pass The Curious Case of Benjamin Button ($127 million).
 
The animated feature film, The Book of Life also posted a solid hold, dropping just 42.4% in its second weekend.  The Weinstein Company’s comedy St. Vincent, which stars Bill Murray, expanded from 68 theaters of 2,282 as it earned $8 million, which was enough to move to sixth place on the list.

Disney’s live-action family film Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day dropped to #7 in its third weekend as it earned $7.3 million and brought its domestic total to $45.5 million.  The $28 million movie is moving close to profitability and should prove to be a modest winner for Disney.
 
Nicholas Sparks’ The Best of Me is a bit more problematic as it dropped 52.7% on its second weekend, bringing its domestic total to $17.7 million, which means the romantic drama still has a long way to go to recoup its $26 million cost.  A similar tough road awaits the Robert Downey, jr.-produced The Judge, which fell to #9 in its third weekend.  With a 17-day total of $34.4 million, the $50 film had better do well overseas.
 
Legendary Pictures’ Dracula Untold is also in its third weekend.  With a domestic that should finish around $55-60 million, this $70 million production had to do well overseas, and it has, earning $118 million so far, and likely insuring that there will be sequel.
 
Two films that started in limited release, the Michael Keaton-starring Birdman and the campus comedy Dear White People, both expanded with Birdman going from 4 theaters to 50 while maintaining a strong $28,720 per venue average, while the average for Dear White People dropped to just $3,722 as it expanded to 384 theaters.
 
Isao Takahata’s The Tale of Princess Kaguya expanded to 20 theaters with modest results as it averaged $3,175 per venue.
 
The documentary about NSA leaker Edward Snowden, Citzenfour, opened in 5 theaters and earned $125,000, a strong performance (even in limited release) for a documentary film.
 
Check back here next week to see if Jake Gyllenhaal’s Nightcrawler and the Nicole Kidman/Colin Firth thriller Before I Go to Sleep open wide along with a 10th anniversary one-week release of the original torture-porn horror movie Saw.
 
--Tom Flinn