‘Gone Girl’ defeats ‘Dracula Untold’ to spend another weekend atop the box office

LOS ANGELES, Calif. – Four new films couldn’t catch “Gone Girl” at theatres this weekend.

The Fox thriller starring Ben Affleck as a man whose wife goes missing is poised to top the box office for a second week with $26.8 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday.

Also starring Rosamund Pike, “Gone Girl” is based on the bestselling novel by Gillian Flynn, who adapted her book for the screen.

“There’s a mystery that’s surrounding this movie,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst for box-office tracker Rentrak. “To have an adult drama like this hold up so well for two weekends in a row is really unusual.”

Universal’s “Dracula Untold” opened in second place with $23.4 million. The Disney family romp, “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day,” debuted in third with $19.1 million.

Two Warner Bros. films round out the top five. The horror “Annabelle” claimed fourth place in its second week of release with $16.3 million, followed by the Robert Downey Jr.-Robert Duvall drama, “The Judge,” which debuted with $13.3 million.

Lionsgate’s erotic thriller “Addicted” opened in seventh place with $7.6 million.

The diversity of choices at theatres is making for robust post-summer ticket sales, Dergarabedian said: “Were making up a lot of ground after a summer season that was down 15 per cent.”

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Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theatres, according to Rentrak. Final domestic figures will be released Monday.

1. “Gone Girl,” $26.8 million.

2. “Dracula Untold,” $23.4 million.

3. “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day,” $19.1 million.

4. “Annabelle,” $16.3 million.

5. “The Judge,” $13.3 million.

6. “The Equalizer,” $9.7 million.

7. “Addicted,” $7.6 million.

8. “The Maze Runner,” $7.5 million.

9. “The Boxtrolls,” $6.6 million.

10. “Meet the Mormons,” $2.9 million.

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Universal and Focus are owned by NBC Universal, a unit of Comcast Corp.; Sony, Columbia, Sony Screen Gems and Sony Pictures Classics are units of Sony Corp.; Paramount is owned by Viacom Inc.; Disney, Pixar and Marvel are owned by The Walt Disney Co.; Miramax is owned by Filmyard Holdings LLC; 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight are owned by 21st Century Fox; Warner Bros. and New Line are units of Time Warner Inc.; MGM is owned by a group of former creditors including Highland Capital, Anchorage Advisors and Carl Icahn; Lionsgate is owned by Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.; IFC is owned by AMC Networks Inc.; Rogue is owned by Relativity Media LLC.

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Follow AP Entertainment Writer Sandy Cohen at www.twitter.com/APSandy .