“Ouija” went into the last weekend in October primed to win. A young cast, a horror flick right before Halloween, and minimal competition. The only big competition was the brand new Keanu Reeves revenge flick “John Wick,” which we liked. “Ouija” also did some interesting marketing, relying heavily on social media, and launching a Snapchat campaign, which was untested waters. It worked, and brought in the under 25 market.In fact 75% of the audience was under 25. This is probably the last weekend in which “Ouija” will be noticed however, it has bad reviews and horror films don’t hold well. Wick will most likely hold better but there are blockbusters waiting around the Halloween corner.
“Fury” and “Gone Girl” continued to fall but the Fincher flick is now north of $120 million. A definite surprise success. There are a few films hitting next weekend, “Nightcrawler” being the most heavily marketed, and critically hailed. After that we get “Interstellar” and “Big Hero 6.”
| Rank | Title | Weekend Gross | % Change | Total Gross | Week # | ||||||
| 1 | Ouija | $20,006,000 | – | $20,006,000 | 1 | ||||||
| 2 | John Wick | $14,150,000 | – | $14,150,000 | 1 | ||||||
| 3 | Fury (2014) | $13,000,000 | -45.2% | $46,050,000 | 2 | ||||||
| 4 | Gone Girl | $11,100,000 | -36.6% | $124,093,000 | 4 | ||||||
| 5 | The Book of Life (2014) | $9,800,000 | -42.4% | $29,913,000 | 2 | ||||||
A quick note on budgets and dollar figures:
Films making back their budgets is a good sign, but that is just the money to film. It doesn’t include distribution and marketing. Marketing can cost as much as a film. That big Superbowl spot is spendy. So take that into account when judging a films success. Hitting $100 million isn’t the same as it once was.
All dollar amounts in the top 5 come from estimates based on ticket sales unless noted otherwise. Occasionally this article will be published when actual results come out, which is usually late Monday afternoon. For more about this and other ins and outs of movie tracking click here.