With Halloween falling on a Friday this year, the major studios decided not to compete with the holiday festivities. That leaves room for Open Road to release the R-rated thriller Nightcrawler [NTCRW] starring Jake Gyllenhaal [JGYLL] as a news cameraman who patrols the Los Angeles streets overnight for the latest crimes and accidents. The film has earned rave reviews and talks of award nominations. Gyllenhaal opened End of Watch to $13.1 million in September 2012. Friday night will take a hit at the box office, but Nightcrawler should be able to tally $12 million for the weekend from 2766 locations.
While a horror film typically drop more than 55% in its sophomore weekend, Halloween could keep Ouija [OUIJA] from decaying closer to 50% for around $9 million.
The well-reviewed John Wick [JWICK] should enjoy positive word of mouth. However, with Halloween falling on Friday, John Wick may drop more than 50% in its second outing to $7 million.
The weekend’s other new wide release Before I Go to Sleep [BIGTS] stars Nicole Kidman [NKID] and Colin Firth [CFIRT]. The R-rated amnesia thriller is distributed by Clarius, whose previous release And So It Goes debuted with $4.6 million this past July. Michael Douglas and Diane Keaton are bigger draws with their target audience than Kidman and Firth though. Playing in 1902 theaters, Before I Go to Sleep could wake up with $3.5 million.
That’s the whisper from the virtual trading floor.
Tag(s): NTCRW, JGYLL, OUIJA, JWICK, BIGTS, CFIRT