Gone Girl stays put in No. 1 spot

LOS ANGELES — An onslaught of new movies couldn’t make Gone Girl disappear from the top of the box-office charts.

The David Fincher- directed thriller was the highest-grossing film in the United States and Canada for the second weekend in a row, beating out the fantasy adventure Dracula Untold, Disney’s Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day and Robert Downey Jr.’s The Judge.

Gone Girl, starring Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike, earned a studio-estimated $26.4 million in ticket sales through Sunday. That represents a mere 29 percent drop from its opening a week earlier, thanks to impressive word-of-mouth and generally positive reviews from critics.

The twist- f illed f ilm based on the novel by Gillian Flynn has taken in nearly $78 million in U.S. and Canadian ticket sales so far, if estimates hold. Gone Girl was co-produced by 20th Century Fox and New Regency.

The $26 million weekend from Gone Girl was enough to hold off Universal’s Dracula Untold, a historical take on the vampire legend.

The PG-13-rated Dracula grossed $23.5 million in U.S. and Canada in its first three days in theaters, topping analysts’ expectations going into the weekend with the help of pricier Imax showings.

Dracula Untold, starring Luke Evans and directed by Gary Shore, follows the transformation of a cursed Vlad the Impaler into the famed bloodthirsty monster. It cost about $70 million to make.

Families turned out for Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, based on the children’s book by Judith Viorst. The live- action movie starring Steve Carell and Jennifer Garner opened with $18.4 million in ticket sales, roughly in line with expectations.

Warner Bros.’ $50 million courtroom drama The Judge, starring Downey and Robert Duvall, did not fare as well, as adult audiences continued flocking to Gone Girl. The Judge grossed a disappointing $13 million for fifth place, behind Warner Bros.’ Annabelle, a spinoff of the 2013 horror hit The Conjuring.

The studio targeted older moviegoers with The Judge. About 50 percent of the audience was older than 50, and 71 percent was older than 35.

Dan Fellman, president of domestic distribution at Warner Bros., said the film’s box-office results came up short but that the studio was hoping grown- ups would eventually turn out. Those who saw The Judge appeared to like it, giving it a grade of A-minus, according to polling firm CinemaScore.

Annabelle added about $16 million to its total, dropping 56 percent from its robust opening weekend. Compared with other horror films, that represents a respectable hold, especially with the new supernatural competition from Dracula Untold, Fellman said.

Annabelle has hauled in $61.6 million domestically so far, after costing just $6.5 million to produce.

Addicted, a thriller targeted primarily at black women, managed to gross $7.4 million and land in seventh place at the box office, despite opening in just 846 theaters.

The results were much higher than anticipated, and the debut counts as the latest victory to come from Lionsgate’s partnership with Jeff Clanagan’s CodeBlack Enterprises. The movie, based on the novel by Zane, is expected to run in more than 1,000 locations this weekend.