"Ouija" Debuts at #1 as Halloween Weekend Approaches

[JamesG]

Weekend Report: Decent Debuts from Ouija, Wick This Weekend
by Ray Subers
October 26, 2014


Over the last full weekend in October, low-budget supernatural horror movie Ouija led the box office with an estimated $20 million.

John Wick wound up in second place, while Bill Murray's St. Vincent did well in its nationwide expansion.



The top 12 earned an estimated $102.7 million this weekend, which is up eight percent from last year. This caps off a very strong month at the box office.

October 2014 is already the highest-grossing October ever, and still has five days left to add to its record-setting number.







Playing at 2,858 theaters, Ouija took first place with an estimated $20 million. This is the second-biggest horror debut of the year ahead of January's Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones ($18.3 million).

It's also above recent October releases Sinister ($18 million) and Carrie ($16.1 million).



With its young cast, PG-13 rating, and pre-Halloween release date, Ouija was a strong option for teenage moviegoers. Universal executed a targeted marketing effort that focused heavily on social media, including the first-ever integrated advertising on Snapchat.

As a result, the audience for Ouija was 75 percent under the age of 25 (and 61 percent female). Also of note: Hispanic moviegoers made up 39 percent of the audience.



Even with a low budget, though, this is a very modest success. Horror movie tends to be very front-loaded, and this should be no exception: with horrible reviews, poor word-of-mouth ("C" CinemaScore), and an audience that skews very young, look for this to fall off quickly in the coming weeks.

It would be surprising if Ouija earned much more than $40 million in the long run.







Opening at 2,589 theaters, John Wick took second place with an estimated $14.15 million. The Keanu Reeves thriller wasn't in the same league as recent revenge movie The Equalizer ($34.1 million), though it's also a much more modest endeavor.

It did top 2014 movies like A Walk Among the Tombstones ($12.8 million) and 3 Days to Kill ($12.2 million), and was remarkably close to fellow Lionsgate release The Expendables 3 ($15.9 million).



It's tough to get too excited about a $14.15 million debut, though the fact that John Wick topped so many recent star-driven action movies is encouraging.

Lionsgate's marketing did a nice job balancing story, character, and action, and strong reviews (86 percent on Rotten Tomatoes) also helped give it a bit of a boost.

The movie was a solid performer in IMAX, as well: $2.5 million, or 18 percent, of its debut came from the large-format, premium-priced screens.



As expected, John Wick's audience skewed male (60 percent) and older (77 percent over 25). It received a so-so "B" CinemaScore, though anecdotally it seems like word-of-mouth is a bit better than that.

The movie could theoretically wind up above $40 million, though it's a tough landscape ahead: Halloween is going to suppress business next weekend, while the one-two punch of Interstellar and Big Hero 6 is going to be tough to compete with the following week.







In third place, Fury fell 45 percent to an estimated $13 million. Considering the movie's positive reviews/word-of-mouth and older audience, it really should have held a bit better than this.

Fury has now earned $46.05 million, and is on track for around $70 million total.







Gone Girl added $11.1 million, which was off 37 percent (its steepest drop yet).

To date, the movie has taken in $124.1 million, and will soon pass The Curious Case of Benjamin Button ($127.5 million) to become David Fincher's highest-grossing movie ever.







The Book of Life rounded out the Top Five with $9.8 million.

That's off 42 percent from last weekend, which isn't a particularly good hold for an animated movie (The Boxtrolls only fell 31 percent at the beginning of the month).

Through 10 days, The Book of Life has grossed $29.9 million.







After two weeks in limited release, St. Vincent expanded to 2,282 theaters and earned $8.06 million. That doesn't compare favorably to the typical Melissa McCarthy movie, though the actress isn't the focus in St. Vincent's marketing.

It's tricky to make a call on this movie's success right now. If it had bypassed the platform release entirely, this weekend wouldn't look so hot. But as a nationwide expansion for an indie release, $8 million is a very solid number.

Ultimately, St. Vincent's fate will be determined in the coming weeks: if positive word-of-mouth keeps it afloat past $30 million, this would be a nice little hit.







After a fantastic New York/Los Angeles launch last weekend, Birdman expanded to 50 theaters and earned an estimated $1.44 million.

That translates to a $28,720 per-theater average; that's a bit below recent Woody Allen movies Midnight in Paris and Blue Jasmine, which had similar second weekend expansions.

Still, this is a strong figure that reinforces Birdman's broad appeal. Fox Searchlight plans to have the movie in at least 225 theaters next weekend.







Dear White People expanded to 384 theaters this weekend and grossed an estimated $1.31 million.

That's essentially on par with fellow Roadside Attractions movie The Skeleton Twins, which earned $1.23 million when it expanded to 385 locations. That movie is on track for over $5 million total, which is a possible outcome for Dear White People as well.







Faith-based football drama 23 Blast opened to an estimated $402,000 from 617 theaters.

That's one of the worst nationwide debuts ever (joining last weekend's Men, Women & Children in that club).







Edward Snowden documentary Citzenfour scored an impressive $125,000 from five theaters this weekend.

Meanwhile, A24's Laggies opened to $78,500 at five theaters.

http://www.boxofficemojo.com/news/?id=3943&p=.htm









October 24-26, 2014 Weekend Studio Estimates:


1. Ouija $20,006,000
2. John Wick $14,150,000
3. Fury $13,000,000 / $46,050,000
4. Gone Girl $11,100,000 / $124,093,000
5. The Book of Life $9,800,000 / $29,913,000
6. St. Vincent $8,058,000 / $9,189,000
7. Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day $7,023,000 / $45,544,000
8. The Best of Me $4,736,000 / $17,663,000
9. The Judge $4,345,000 / $34,377,000
10. Dracula Untold $4,302,000 / $48,328,000

[dakert]

Whenever I think of the Ouija Board the Waltons episode pops in my head. I wonder if this movie is as good/eerie as that episode.

[Dude111]

Probably not seeing its PG-13 (And not R) .. Gimme a break!

More garbage.......

[Torgo]

Originally Posted by Dude111

Probably not seeing its PG-13 (And not R) .. Gimme a break!

More garbage.......

Well, it is co-produced by a toy company so it's not surprising at all that it's not going to have an R rating. That being said, there are plenty of well made effective PG-13 horror films. Heck some of our classic horror films that are still scary to this day would probably be still be rated or re rated as PG let alone PG-13.

[comedyfreak]

I still want to see Fury and St. Vincent.

[Bonniegirl]

I wanna see it. I saw previews in the theatre when we saw Annabelle. It looked really creepy and scary!

[Mace Dolex]

Originally Posted by bonniegirl62

I wanna see it. I saw previews in the theatre when we saw Annabelle. It looked really creepy and scary!

Its average at best, the trailer was the only good thing about it the rest of the film is just predictable, you can't expect much gore in a PG-13 film which I'm surprised they could be OK with a person hanging themselves in the film.

But yeah the only reason its #1 right now is because its a slow week for new releases and not because its good.

[MrCleveland]

What next...Operation the Movie, The Game of Life, Mousetrap, Monopoly, or Trivial Pursuit as films?!

[Torgo]

Originally Posted by MrCleveland

What next...Operation the Movie, The Game of Life, Mousetrap, Monopoly, or Trivial Pursuit as films?!

Well there was Clue, which is a very funny movie.

[MrCleveland]

Originally Posted by Torgo

Well there was Clue, which is a very funny movie.

I have that film...I like the film as well!

[Torgo]

Ouija isn't even the first horror film to center around a Ouija board, it's not even the first horror film to have Ouija in the title- there was the 2007 Filipino horror film Ouija, and the 2004 Korean horror film Ouija Board, and the UK horror film from 2007 also titled Ouija Board.

Not to sound like a broken record, but outside of films like The Conjuring and Oculus, chances of finding a truly scary horror film released by mainstream Hollywood now days is a rarity. The scary movies I've found made in the last 10, even 20 years are either indie or foreign. The director of Oculus came from an indie horror background, having previously made the super creepy Absentia.

[JamesG]

^ Don't forget 1986's Witchboard.

[Torgo]

Originally Posted by JamesG

^ Don't forget 1986's Witchboard.

Yeah, I was just naming the ones that had Ouija in the title. There's also the Mexican horror film from the 80's titled Don't Panic about a teen that becomes possessed by a spirit released from a Ouija board.

[Mace Dolex]

Originally Posted by Torgo

Yeah, I was just naming the ones that had Ouija in the title. There's also the Mexican horror film from the 80's titled Don't Panic about a teen that becomes possessed by a spirit released from a Ouija board.

Yeah that movie is so corny and hilarious because of its main protagonist who likes to wear kiddie pajamas.

[auburntiger]

i swa dracula untold and thought it was real good