Box Office Preview: ‘Nightcrawler’ And ‘Ouija’ Battle For Top Spot

Jake Gyllenhaal’s Nightcrawler debuted Thursday night with $515,000 at 2,766 locations, and hopes to snatch the top spot from last week’s victor Ouija.

The pre-Halloween opening was a strong start for Open Road’s indie thriller, which features Gyllenhaal as a crime journalist in Los Angeles. In comparison, Universal’s Ouija debuted last Thursday night with $991,000 at 2,061 locations, and continued on to make $19.9 million opening weekend.

Analysts are predicting that both films will end up battling for the No. 1 spot at the box office, with Nightcrawler expecting to take in a modest $9 million to $10 million. Ouija, which stars Daren Kagasoff and Olivia Cooke, is expected to decline around 50 percent and gross within the same range as its component.

Below is the R-rated film’s official synopsis, courtesy of Open Road:

NIGHTCRAWLER is a pulse-pounding thriller set in the nocturnal underbelly of contemporary Los Angeles. Jake Gyllenhaal stars as Lou Bloom, a driven young man desperate for work who discovers the high-speed world of L.A. crime journalism. Finding a group of freelance camera crews who film crashes, fires, murder and other mayhem, Lou muscles into the cut-throat, dangerous realm of nightcrawling — where each police siren wail equals a possible windfall and victims are converted into dollars and cents. Aided by Rene Russo as Nina, a veteran of the blood-sport that is local TV news, Lou thrives. In the breakneck, ceaseless search for footage, he becomes the star of his own story.

Currently, the Dan Gilroy-directed film is getting positive reviews, with a 94 percent “fresh” score on Rotten Tomatoes.

In addition to the thriller’s release, the only new wide release is Nicole Kidman and Colin Firth’s thriller Before I Go to Sleep, which made its nationwide debut Friday, as well. Forecasters predict that the film will gross roughly $5 million over the weekend.

Another fright feature to hit theaters will be in celebration of Saw’s 10th anniversary. Lionsgate will be rereleasing the 2004 horror film for just one week, and is planning to take in $3 million within that brief run.

This year featured fewer spooks than usual, with none of the films expected to pass over the $10 million mark. Because Halloween falls on a Friday for the first time since 2008, many studios have opted to avoid releasing films on the All Hallow’s Eve weekend knowing that it would surely flop.

“This is the calm before the storm,” said BoxOffice.com vice-president and senior analyst Phil Contrino. “We have the combination of Halloween falling on Friday and being just ahead of one of the biggest weekends of the year (Interstellar and Big Hero 6 open next week), so it’s not surprising things will be slow.”

Check out the trailer for Nightcrawler and Before I Go to Sleep below!