WEEKEND BOX OFFICE (09.29.14) — “The Equalizer” Is First Among Equals

by: Madelyn Glymour | Contributor

As we predicted, “The Equalizer” took the weekend handily, with over twice the haul of YA dystopia “The Maze Runner,” which is now in its second week. And “Maze Runner” only barely got second place; “The Boxtrolls,” Laika’s stop-motion animated kids’ movie, outperformed nearly everyone’s expectations, taking in just over $17 million. That gives “Boxtrolls” the most successful opening weekend of any Laika film, besting the $16.8 million “Coraline” took in, as well as the $14.09 million for “ParaNorman.” “Maze Runner” only held on to second due to its very modest drop of 46.2 percent from its first week. Dropping even more modestly was “This Is Where I Leave You,” which took in about $7 million, down just 39.4 percent from its opening weekend.

The real surprise of the weekend was “Dolphin Tale 2,” which overtook the second week of “A Walk Among the Tombstones” and the third week of “No Good Deed” to eek out a fifth-place finish. “Tombstones” fell drastically from its opening weekend, taking in only  $4.23 million; presumably, “The Equalizer” is to blame for that.

Next weekend sees the debut of “Annabelle,” “Gone Girl,” and the Nicolas Cage post-apocalyptic drama “Left Behind.” With “Left Behind” not poised to make much impact, this week’s top three could easily stay in the rankings — but “Gone Girl” is a force to be reckoned with. Check in this Thursday for our official predictions!