It's a battle between girls and dolls this weekend, with “Annabelle” topping “Gone Girl” at the Friday box office.
“Annabelle,” a spin-off last year's horror hit “The Conjuring,” topped Friday with $15.5 million, while “Gone Girl” made off with $13.2 million.
However, “Girl” will most likely overtake the creepy doll for the top spot by Sunday. The former is likely to earn around $36 million, while “Annabelle” (which only cost a reported $6.5 million to produce) should scare up $34 million or so.
Based on the bestseller by Gillian Flynn, “Gone Girl” was directed by David Fincher (“Zodiac,” “The Social Network”) and stars Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike.
It will have no trouble surpassing Fincher's previous top opener, “Panic Room,” which earned a $30.1 million debut back in 2002.
Meanwhile, the Denzel Washington thriller “The Equalizer” took in another 5.6 million for third place. Its two-week domestic total stands at $51 million.
“The Maze Runner” found its way to fourth place with another $3.4 million, having earned a strong $65.3 million domestically.
Laika's stop-motion film “The Boxtrolls” rounded out the top 5 with $2.7 million. So far, it has earned a decent $22.8 million.
Look for complete weekend estimates Sunday on HitFix.