LOS ANGELES-
Spooky thriller “Ouija” haunted the top of the North American box office, debuting in first place, industry estimates showed Sunday.
The supernatural horror flick, about a group of friends who awaken an ancient spirit with a Ouija board, a game where players attempt to talk with ghosts, earned $20 million in its opening weekend, according to box office tracker Exhibitor Relations.
Another new release, action movie “John Wick,” blasted into second place, pushing Brad Pitt’s latest war movie “Fury” down to third.
Starring Keanu Reeves as an ex-hitman who returns from retirement to take revenge on gangsters who attacked him, “John Wick” raked in $14.2 million in ticket sales
“Fury,” a gory World War II film that has already been turned into a video game, fell from first place. It earned $13 million, putting its two-week total at just over $46 million.
“Gone Girl,” starring Ben Affleck as a husband accused of murdering his wife (Rosamund Pike), was just behind with $11.1 million, good enough for fourth place, putting its four-week haul at $124 million.
Animated comedy “The Book of Life,” featuring the voices of Mexican star Diego Luna, as well as Hollywood’s Zoe Saldana and Channing Tatum, was in fifth, with $9.8 million in box office sales.
Meanwhile, “St. Vincent,” a comedy starring Bill Murray, Melissa McCarthy and Naomi Watts, jumped into sixth place in its first weekend in wide release.
The film, about a young boy who befriends the crusty war veteran living next door, earned $8.1 million.
Disney’s “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day” — based on a children’s book of the same name and starring Steve Carell and Jennifer Garner — came in seventh place at just over $7 million.
Romance “The Best of Me,” starring James Marsden and Michelle Monaghan as high school sweethearts who reunite in their hometown, debuted in fifth place, earning just over $4.7 million.
Robert Downey Jr’s much-anticipated “The Judge,” co-starring 83-year-old Robert Duvall, fell to ninth place, with $4.35 million, putting its three-week take at a disappointing $34.4 million.
And rounding out the top ten, action-horror film “Dracula Untold” — depicting the vampire as a flawed hero in a tragic love tale — was a whisker behind, at $4.3 million.
