David Fincher‘s Gone Girl, based on Gillian Flynn‘s popular novel, is pacing on par with Gravity in terms of advance ticket sales, according to online ticketing service Fandango.
Gravity debuted to $55.8 million a year ago, the top October opening of all time, not accounting for inflation.
However, based on pre-release tracking, box-office observers believe Gone Girl, which 20th Century Fox begins rolling out Thursday night, will debut more in the $20 million to $22 million range, noting that advance ticket sales aren’t necessarily a barometer of how a movie will ultimately perform.
Either way, it should be an interesting weekend at the box office. Tracking actually shows New Line’s horror spinoff Annabelle beating Gone Girl.
But Fincher’s thriller, starring Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike, has every chance of overperforming, considering the book has sold more than 6 million copies in hardcover. The movie is drawing the most interest among older women.
Gone Girl, co-produced with New Regency, centers on a man who comes under suspicion when his wife disappears.
Annabelle, a prequel to The Conjuring, represents 13 percent of ticket sales on Fandango (since horror draws a younger crowd, the genre doesn’t usually do big business in advance ticket sales), while Nicolas Cage’s faith-based Left Behind, the weekend’s other new movie, represents 8 percent.
