Box Office: ‘Ouija’ and ‘Nightcrawler’ battle for Halloween bucks on Friday

Audiences wanted to share some creepy scares at the box office on a typically slow Halloween night.

The low-budget “Ouija” and the surrealist Jake Gyllenhaal film “Nightcrawler” were neck and neck on Friday night, with the former scaring up $3.5 million and the latter earning $3.2 million. 

While both films will likely earn somewhere in the $11 – $12 million range, the critically acclaimed “Nightcrawler” is expected to pull ahead and claim the top spot by Sunday. 

Meanwhile, Brad Pitt's WWII tank drama “Fury” rolled into third place, adding another $1.9 million to its domestic total, which currently stands at 53.2 million. 

The Keanu Reeves action extravaganza “John Wick” shot its way to another $1.8 million, bringing its domestic total to $21.3 million. 

Yesterday marked a milestone for “Gone Girl,” which earned another $1.8 and placed in fourth, just beneath “Wick.” The film, which stars Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike, now stands as Fincher's highest-grossing film, with a domestic take of $129.6 million (so far). 2008's “Benjamin Button” topped out at $127.5 million.

However, it's bad news for Nicole Kidman and Colin Firth's “Before I Go to Sleep,” which seems to be dying a quick death at the box office. The film earned just $575,000 from nearly 2,000 screens, and will be lucky to top the $2 million mark for the weekend. It's one of the worst wide openings of Kidman's career. 

Look for complete weekend estimates Sunday on HitFix.

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