"Ouija" won the box office, but it was Keanu Reeves' "John Wick" that surprised and performed better than pundits expected.

The Universal Horror picture "Ouija" made $20 million on its opening weekend and became the second-biggest horror debut of the year. The film performed under "Annabelle," but it bested "Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones" as well as other horror films this year. While it is a success as the movie was made for a very low budget, the horror picture performed under expectations. Pundits believed that it would open closer to $30 million. The horrible reviews and poor word-of-mouth mostly contributed to the disappointing opening. While horror films are usually frontloaded, Halloween falls on a Friday and that will most likely help the film rebound.

In second place, "John Wick" made an estimated $14.15 million. The gross was better than expected and, while it was not close to Denzel Washington's "The Equalizer," the movie topped last month's "A Walk Among the Tombstones," which starred Liam Neeson. "John Wick" benefited from Lionsgate's strong campaign which concentrated on the story, character and action. Great reviews also contributed to the success of the film.

Brad Pitt's "Fury" may have had a great opening last weekend, but this weekend it failed to hold on. It fell 45 percent and made an estimated $13 million. Considering great reviews and awards buzz this was a weak hold. The movie has currently made $46.05 million and is likely on track to make $70 million. With a $68 million budget, this is extremely disappointing.  

In fourth place, "Gone Girl" continued to hold and added $11 million to its gross. To date, it has taken in $124 million and is currently on track to end close to the $150 million mark.

In fifth place, "The Book of Life" brought in an estimated $9.8 million. The film fell 42 percent from its opening, which not very good considering the lack of family friendly films. At the moment "The Book of Life" has grossed $29.9 million and will likely end its run with $50 million.

In sixth place, "St. Vincent" expanded nationwide and made $8 million. This is an extremely impressive opening for an art house film. The film had been in limited release for two weeks and had received great word-of-mouth. Now that the movie is wide release, it will be interesting to see if the comedy could maintain the positive buzz. The film received good reviews and is getting a lot of awards buzz for Bill Murray.

In arthouse theaters, Fox Searchlight look to have record-breaking results with "Birdman." The awards contender expanded into 50 theaters and made an estimated $1.4 million. That is equal to $28,720 per theater average. The movie is set to expand to 225 theaters next weekend and will likely continue a successful run, especially if it continues to garner awards especially after obtaining a Gotham nomination last week.

Roadside Attractions had solid results with "Dear White People." In 384 theaters, the feature made $1.3 million. The Gotham nominated film is currently on par with Roadside's September release "The Skeleton Twins" and could end up with $5 million by the end of its run.

The Faith-based genre continued to flop. This time, Ocean Avenue Entertainment's "23 Blast" made $402,000 in 617 theaters. The movie joined last weekend's "Men, Women & Children" as one of the worst openings. It ranks as the 11th worst opening of all time in 600 theaters or more.

Meanwhile, Radius TWC opened "Citizenfour" in five theaters to $125,000. The Edward Snowden documentary is expanding next weekend and it is currently the frontrunner to win the Academy Award for best documentary. Pundits are even speculating that it could break into the Best Picture category.

A24 also had a solid opening with "Laggies," starring Keira Knightley. The comedy, which was originally slated for a wide release, made an estimated $78,500. The one-year-old distributor will expand the film next weekend.