Jake Gyllenhaal‘s “Nightcrawler” sent a shiver up the spine with $515,000 at Thursday night’s box office in 2,766 theaters.
The Open Road thriller is not expected to surpass the $10 million at the box office over the weekend, leaving the possibility that last week’s teen horror film “Ouija” will once again capture the top spot.
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Nicole Kidman-Colin Firth thriller “Before I Go to Sleep” also opens nationwide, as does a 10th anniversary reissue of the horror film “Saw.” Neither is expected to top $10 million. Theatrical business will likely remain slow this weekend only to pick up next week with two major releases in “Interstellar” and “Big Hero 6.”
“Nightcrawler” is currently at a 96 percent fresh rating on Rotten Tomatoes, placing it in a tie with “The Lego Movie” as the best-reviewed film of the year. Clarius Entertainment’s “Before I Go to Sleep” didn’t give critics sweet dreams, receiving only a 39 percent fresh rating on the site.
The re-release of “Saw” is expected to bring in $2 million at the box office. Lionsgate ran a social media campaign that put “Saw” content onto the Facbook pages of over 16 million horror fans. The studio also leveraged its own properties and shared “Saw” content across fan pages for “Texas Chainsaw Massacre,” “The Devil’s Rejects” and “American Psycho.”
Also read: ‘Nightcrawler’ Review: Jake Gyllenhaal Astonishes in Extraordinary Thriller
“Nightcrawler” features Gyllenhaal as an ambulance-chasing news videographer. Written and directed by Dan Gilroy, his wife Rene Russo also stars. Tony Gilroy and John Gilroy, brothers to Dan, produce and edit, respectively. Bill Paxton and Rez Ahmed co-star. Open Road acquired “Nightcrawler,” financed by Bold Films, at the Cannes Film Festival.
“Before I Go To Sleep” is a British thriller starring Kidman as a woman who wakes up every day, remembering nothing as a result of a traumatic accident in her past. Firth plays her husband and Mark Strong co-stars.
It was produced by Ridley Scott and adapted from S.J. Watson’s novel by Rowan Jaffe, who also directs.