"Gone Girl" debuts in first place at box office
"Annabelle" couldn't scare off "Gone Girl" at the weekend box office.
The Fox thriller starring Ben Affleck as a man whose wife goes missing overcame the Warner Bros. possessed-doll horror movie with a $38 million debut, according to studio estimates Sunday.
Both films join the recently released "The Maze Runner" and "The Equalizer" in crossing the $30 million mark this fall, a typically low-earning season at the box office.
"It was virtually a photo finish," said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for box-office tracker Rentrak. "These two movies couldn't be more different. It shows how if the marketplace presents a diversity of product, audiences will come out. It's the third and fourth $30 million debut of the past two weeks. It's been a great post-summer run."
"Gone Girl" is based on the best-selling novel by Gillian Flynn and was directed by "The Social Network" and "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button" filmmaker David Fincher.
Flynn recently spoke with CBS News about the casting of the film: "You know, that was all up to David, but I certainly from the very beginning was like, 'Ben Affleck. Ben Affleck. It's gotta be Ben Affleck!'
"I think David Fincher made a very provocative, thought-provoking film," said Chris Aronson, head of distribution for Fox. "I think there was this crescendo of publicity and social-media chatter that made 'Gone Girl' into a zeitgeist-y movie that you have to see to be part of the conversation."
Affleck told CBS News he was attracted to the film in part because of Fincher's desire to explore the media's extrapolation of a person's life.
"It's like watching a soap opera that an actor is in, reading lines that I don't want to say, in a part that I don't want," Affleck said. "So I used that sense of frustration and kind of helplessness and irritation to connect with a guy who is obviously on a whole other level."
The music for the film was co-written by Trent Reznor, lead singer of Nine Inch Nails and an award-winning composer.
The movie earned an additional $24.6 million internationally.
"Annabelle" debuted closely behind "Gone Girl" with $37.2 million. The movie stars Ward Horton and Annabelle Wallis as new parents who bring the creepy porcelain plaything seen in last year's haunted house horror "The Conjuring" into their home.
Sony's "The Equalizer," last week's top performer, came in third place in its second weekend with $19 million, bringing its total domestic haul to $64.5 million. The revenge thriller starring Denzel Washington reteams him with director Antoine Fuqua, who helmed 2001's "Training Day," the film that earned Washington an Oscar for best actor.
"Left Behind," the weekend's other big debut, opened in sixth place with $6.8 million. The Rapture-set film starring Nicholas Cage is based on the novel of the same name.
Dergarabedian said overall ticket sales for the weekend box office were $149 million, an 18 percent increase from the same weekend last year.
Tell us: Did you see "Gone Girl"? What did you think?