"Gone Girl" and "Annabelle" are set to duel for first place at the box office while Denzel Washington's "The Equalizer" should continue to perform solidly.

David Fincher returns to the box office after a three-year absence. The director has had a good track record with his past three films, "The Curious Case of Benjamin Button," "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" and The Social Network," as they all made over $95 million. "Gone Girl" is expected to continue Fincher's streak, as the original book that the film is based on has a huge following and the film was written by the author herself, Gillian Flynn.

The film has received a huge marketing and recently premiered at the New York Film festival where it scored rave reviews. 20th Century Fox has also been making a huge awards push, which could also give the film an edge this weekend.

October has seen major Oscar players in the past due extremely good business such as "Captain Philips," "The Social Network" and "Argo." "Gone Girl," which opens in 3,014 theaters, should exceed these films and make a total to $35 million to $40 million.

In second place, the prequel to the "The Conjuring," "Annabelle," should scare up $30 million in 3,185 theaters. The film has obtained a strong marketing campaign and the fact that it comes out a year after the "The Conjuring" will definitely help the movie. However, reviews have not been as strong and the horror genre has not had a great year. Still, Halloween is around the corner and audiences like these types of movies during this time of the year.

Meanwhile, "The Equalizer" will likely drop 50 percent and bring in another $18 million. That would bring its total to $63 million and would bring it closer to the $100 million mark.

"The Boxtrolls" and "The Maze Runner" will compete for the fourth and fifth place and should each make $10 million.

Nicolas Cage's latest movie, "Left Behind," will likely make $4 million. Opening in 1,820 theaters, the feature is trying to attract the Christian moviegoers that saw "Son of God," "God's Not Dead" and "Heaven is for Real" and made them hits.

Unfortunately, faith-based movies aren't all guaranteed hits as "Moms' Night Out," "Persecuted," "The Song" and "The Identical" were bombs. The film genre is a hit or a miss and most of the time the successful films are the ones that put the faith-affirming content front and center.

"Left Behind" is based on a popular book series which should help it propel the movie to bigger audiences. Additionally, it stars Nicolas Cage and that should help increase the audience. However, reviews have been terrible and marketing has been limited.

In art house cinemas, Warner Bros will release the Reese Witherspoon drama "The Good Lie." The studio will release it in 461 theaters and has not given it a marketing campaign. While it received great reviews and premiered at the Toronto Film Festival, it is unlikely to reach $1 million.

Paramount will release Jason Reitman's "Men Women & Children" in 17 theaters. The film was originally intended as an awards contenders, but reviews have been extremely mixed and the subject matter is very dark. While it will appeal to younger demographic, Reitman's track record as of late has been very poor. "Labor Day" and "Young Adult" both underperformed when they were released.

After three weekends of success, Roadside Attractions will expand "The Skeleton Twins" into an additional 75 theaters and will bring its count to 460. Having already made $2 million, Roadside looks to have another major hit this year.

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