‘Gone Girl' tops box office for second weekend

LOS ANGELES -- Four new films couldn't catch "Gone Girl" at theaters 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 estimated Sunday.

Also starring Rosamund Pike, "Gone Girl" is based on the best-selling 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 theaters is making for robust post-summer ticket sales, Dergarabedian said: "We're making up a lot of ground after a summer season that was down 15 percent."

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Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, 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.