Los Angeles - AFP
"Gone Girl" stood tall atop the North American box office for a second straight week, fighting back competition from a number of new films, industry estimates showed Sunday.
The mystery, starring Ben Affleck as a husband accused of murdering his wife (Rosamund Pike), raked in $26.8 million over the weekend, bringing its two-week haul to $78.3 million.
Action-horror film "Dracula Untold" -- depicting the vampire as a flawed hero in a tragic love tale -- debuted in the number two spot this weekend with $23.5 million.
Disney's new release "Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day" -- based on a children's book of the same name and starring Steve Carell and Jennifer Garner -- opened in third place at $19.1 million.
In the fourth spot was horror flick "Annabelle" about a haunted supernatural doll. It earned $16.4 million, falling from the number two spot last weekend.
Robert Downey Jr's much-anticipated "The Judge," co-starring 83-year-old Robert Duvall, debuted in fifth place with a disappointing $13.3 million.
"The Equalizer," an adventure-action film starring Denzel Washington that is loosely based on a popular 1980s television series of the same name, earned $9.7 million for sixth place.
In seventh place was the newly-released "Addicted," a provocative thriller about an adulterous businesswoman, which brought in $7.6 million.
It was followed by sci-fi action film "The Maze Runner" at $7.5 million. So far, the adaptation of a popular young adult novel has taken in a total $83.8 million.
"The Boxtrolls," an animated film about an orphaned boy raised underground by friendly monsters, slid to ninth place from fourth with $6.7 million.
Rounding out the top 10 was "Left Behind," an apocalyptic thriller starring Nicolas Cage, which earned $2.9 million.