David Fincher's “Gone Girl” races past $200 million globally

PanARMENIAN.Net - David Fincher's Gone Girl has raced past the $200 million mark at the global box office, where it will soon overtake the filmmaker's The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo ($232.6 million) and The Social Network ($224.9 million), The Hollywood Reporter said.

Gone Girl, starring Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike, even has a shot at approaching $300 million worldwide, although that won't be enough to match The Curious Case of Benjamin Button ($333 million) or Seven ($327.3 million), which rank as Fincher's top-grossing movies, respectively, not accounting for inflation.

For the weekend, Gone Girl took in $20.2 million from 58 markets overseas for a foreign total of $94.7 million for a global total of $201.6 million. While the 20th Century Fox and New Regency film is doing best in Europe -- the U.K. leads overall with $23.2 million -- it has surprised in many Asian markets.

New Line and Warner Bros.' horror prequel Annabelle likewise remains a strong global player, finishing Sunday with an impressive $166.1 million in total ticket sales, including $95 million overseas. Annabelle, costing just $6.5 million to make, earned another $19.2 million internationally for the weekend.

Still, it was neither of those films, nor Dracula Untold, that topped the weekend box office chart offshore. Instead, the crown went to Disney's Guardians of the Galaxy. The quirky superhero tentpole, still playing in China and a smattering of other territories, took in $23.1 million to jump the $400 million mark internationally for a worldwide total of $732.6 million.

Better yet, Guardians became No. 3 Marvel title of all time behind The Avengers ($1.5 billion) and Iron Man 3 ($1.2 billion).

Universal and Legendary's origins pic Dracula Untold came in No. 2 overseas, earning $22.5 million from 58 markets for a foreign total of $95.7 million, more than double its early North American take of 40.7 million (Dracula Untold fell 58 percent in its second weekend domestically). Its global cume is $136.4 million.

Thanks to a late rollout in Europe, Paramount's Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles came in No. 4 internationally behind Guardians, Dracula Untold and Gone Girl (Annabelle rounded out the top five). TMNT took in a hearty $20 million from 33 territories for a foreign total of $185.4 million and global haul of $375 million. In Europe, the U.K. led with an impressive $7.9 million, followed by France ($4.1 million), Germany ($3.8 million) and Spain ($1.5 million).