HALLOWEEN LIKELY TO SCARE AWAY MOVIEGOERS

The box office will be competing with Halloween activities this weekend — and losing, analysts say. The biggest loss will, of course, occur tonight (Friday), but post-Halloween festivities on Saturday are also likely to distract moviegoers from moviegoing. At any rate, the major studios, apparently aware of the distracting amusements, have decided not to release a single new film this week. (Lionsgate is re-releasing its 2004 Halloween classic Saw as Saw 10th Anniversary.) That gives Open Road films an open road for Nightcrawler, a creepy thriller starring Jake Gyllenhaal that has managed to attract some solid reviews (see separate item). It’s expected to earn around $15-20 million. Holdovers Ouija, John Wick and Fury are expected to battle it out for second place, with each film likely to take in $7-10 million, while Gone Girl will probably remain in the top five with around $6-8 million.