NORTH AMERICA: ‘Gone Girl’ Clears $40M Mark after Leading Monday with $3.28M; ‘Annabelle’ Nears $40M after $2.31M Take on Monday

Fox’s Gone Girl led the daily box office on Monday with $3.28 million. The critically acclaimed David Fincher directed film starring Ben Affleck has led the daily box office for the past three days. Gone Girl was down 64 percent from Sunday, which is a good early sign for the film and also a sign of the film skewing heavily towards older moviegoers. Gone Girl cleared the $40 million mark on Monday and has grossed a stronger than expected $40.79 million in four days. That places the film a very impressive 66.5 percent ahead of the $24.50 million four-day start of 2010’s The Social Network.

Annabelle claimed second place for the day with $2.31 million. Warner’s low-budget spin-off to The Conjuring fell 70 percent from Sunday’s performance. Annabelle continues to exceed expectations in a very big way with a strong four-day start of $39.44 million. The film is set to surpass the $40 million mark today and is running just 6 percent behind the $42.04 million four-day start of last year’s Insidious Chapter 2.

Sony‘s The Equalizer placed in third with $1.47 million. The Denzel Washington led action thriller was down 69 percent from Sunday and down a sizable 50 percent from last Monday. The Equalizer continues to perform in line with the higher end of its lofty pre-release expectations with an eleven-day start of $65.71 million. That places the film 6 percent ahead of the $62.04 million eleven-day take of 2010’s The Book of Eli.

The Maze Runner took fourth place with $0.641 million. Fox’s successful young adult adaptation fell 76 percent from Sunday and a healthy 34 percent from last Monday. Thanks in part to continued strong holding power, especially for a young adult adaptation, The Maze Runner has grossed a stronger than expected $74.19 million through 18 days of release.

The Boxtrolls rounded out Monday’s top five with $0.539 million. The latest stop motion animated film from Focus and Laika was down 84 percent from Sunday and down a slim 26.5 percent from last Monday. Like 2009’s Coraline and 2012’s ParaNorman before it, The Boxtrolls is displaying strong holding power thus far. The film continues to exceed expectations with an eleven-day take of $32.63 million.

Freestyle’s Left Behind landed in sixth place with $0.427 million. The faith based thriller remake starring Nicolas Cage fell 71 percent from Sunday. Left Behind has grossed $6.73 million in four days, which is towards the lower end of the film’s modest pre-release expectations.