Sandra Bullock, 'Gravity' rocket past 'Carrie' to win box office

"Carrie" is based on based on thriller writer Stephen King's 1974 novel. That novel was first adapted by Brian De Palma and received Academy Award nominations for Spacek and Piper Laurie, who plays her abusive mother.

The film's box office failed to match Hollywood's forecasts of a $22 million opening weekend, according to website Box Office Mojo.

Still, Sony Pictures' worldwide president of distribution, Rory Bruer, said that the film's opening was "within the realm of expectations."

Horror films have had a good year, with Warner Brother's "The Conjuring" generating $137.3 million in domestic ticket sales and "Mama," "The Purge" and "Insidious Chapter 2" with strong sales.

Other new releases didn't fare as well. "The Escape Plan," starring aging action film stars Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger in a prison escape flick, opened with $9.8 million in ticket sales for fifth place.

"The Fifth Estate," a thriller based on the news-leaking website WikiLeaks, was eighth with $1.7 million in ticket sales. The film, co-produced by superstar director Steven Spielberg's Dreamworks studio, received mixed reviews from critics and a thumbs-down from WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange who told the New York Times the film is "a reactionary snoozefest that only the US government could love."

The animated movie "Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2" took the no. 4 spot this week, with ticket sales of $10.1 million, pushing the Sony-produced film past $93 million in its fourth weekend in movie theaters.

"Gravity" was released by Warner Bros., a unit of Time Warner Inc. Sony Corp's movie studio released "Captain Phillips," "Carrie" and "Cloudy 2." "The Fifth Estate" was released by Walt Disney's Touchstone label. "Escape Plan. Was released by "Lionsgate."

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