'Gone Girl,' 'Annabelle' top weekend box office in close race to No. 1

"Gone Girl" and "Annabelle" nabbed the top spots at the weekend box office.

The Fox thriller starring Ben Affleck as a man whose wife goes missing debuted with $37.5 million, while the Warner Bros. possessed-doll horror movie opened with $37.1 million.

"Gone Girl" is based on the best-selling novel by Gillian Flynn and was directed by "The Social Network" filmmaker David Fincher.

"Annabelle" features Ward Horton and Annabelle Wallis as new parents who bring home the creepy porcelain plaything glimpsed in last year's haunted house horror "The Conjuring."

Both films join the recently released "The Maze Runner" and "The Equalizer" in crossing the $30 million mark this fall, a typically low-earning time at the box office.

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The top 20 movies at U.S. and Canadian theaters Friday through Sunday, followed by distribution studio, gross, number of theater locations, average receipts per location, total gross and number of weeks in release, as compiled Monday by Rentrak, are:

1. "Gone Girl," 20th Century Fox, $37,513,109, 3,014 locations, $12,446 average, $37,513,109, 1 week.

2. "Annabelle," Warner Bros., $37,134,255, 3,185 locations, $11,659 average, $37,134,255, 1 week.

3. "The Equalizer," Sony, $18,750,375, 3,236 locations, $5,794 average, $64,236,992, 2 weeks.

4. "The Boxtrolls," Focus Features, $11,979,588, 3,464 locations, $3,458 average, $32,093,796, 2 weeks.

5. "The Maze Runner," 20th Century Fox, $11,634,764, 3,605 locations, $3,227 average, $73,556,159, 3 weeks.

6. "Left Behind," Freestyle Releasing, $6,300,147, 1,825 locations, $3,452 average, $6,300,147, 1 week.

7. "This Is Where I Leave You," Warner Bros., $4,009,345, 2,735 locations, $1,466 average, $29,012,573, 3 weeks.

8. "Dolphin Tale 2," Warner Bros., $3,422,377, 2,790 locations, $1,227 average, $37,866,130, 4 weeks.

9. "Guardians Of The Galaxy," Disney, $3,005,083, 1,894 locations, $1,587 average, $323,331,487, 10 weeks.

10. "No Good Deed," Sony, $2,500,118, 1,580 locations, $1,582 average, $50,157,393, 4 weeks.

11. "A Walk Among The Tombstones," Universal, $2,013,170, 2,226 locations, $904 average, $24,510,525, 3 weeks.

12. "Bang Bang," Fox International Productions, $1,278,690, 271 locations, $4,718 average, $1,449,215, 1 week.

13. "The Good Lie," Warner Bros., $841,422, 461 locations, $1,825 average, $841,422, 1 week.

14. "Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles," Paramount, $769,590, 834 locations, $923 average, $188,322,741, 9 weeks.

15. "Let's Be Cops," 20th Century Fox, $738,775, 781 locations, $946 average, $80,883,189, 8 weeks.

16. "The Skeleton Twins," Roadside Attractions, $714,492, 461 locations, $1,550 average, $3,513,600, 4 weeks.

17. "Haider," UTV Communications, $508,084, 119 locations, $4,270 average, $549,372, 1 week.

18. "My Old Lady," Cohen Media Group, $476,978, 263 locations, $1,814 average, $2,229,474, 4 weeks.

19. "If I Stay," Warner Bros., $394,370, 555 locations, $711 average, $49,774,414, 7 weeks.

20. "Mommy," Entertainment One Films, $380,896, 83 locations, $4,589 average, $1,623,439, 3 weeks.

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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.