LOTS TO CHOOSE FROM AT THE BOX OFFICE

A plethora of new movies is set to hit the nation’s multiplexes this weekend, so many in fact that some are expected to draw off business from others. The competitive landscape will represent a challenge for the second week of David Fincher’s Gone Girl, which performed well above expectations last weekend, but most analysts are predicting that it will be able to hold on to the No. 1 spot for a second week. They’re predicting that the Disney family film, Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, starring Steve Carell and Jennifer Garner, will likely take the No. 2 spot. Each film is likely to earn $20-25 million, they say. The other newcomers are expected to earn less than $20 million. They include the horror flick Dracula Untold and the dramas The Judge, starring Robert Downey Jr. and Robert Duvall, from Warner Bros. and Addicted from Lionsgate. In limited release, there’ll also be Whiplash, from Sony Classics, Kill the Messenger from Focus Features, and St. Vincent, starring Bill Murray, from the Weinstein Company.