Box office
Gone Girl grossed $167.8 million in the U.S. and Canada and $201.6 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $369.3 million, against a production budget of $61 million.[3] Calculating in all expenses, Deadline Hollywood estimated that the film made a profit of $129.99 million, making it one of the most profitable films of 2014.[32]
The film was released on October 3, 2014, in North America in 3,014 theaters and earned $13.1 million on its opening day[33][34] (including the $1.3 million it earned from Thursday late-night showings).[35][36] It finished in first place at the North American box office earning $37.5 million after a neck-and-neck competition with Warner Bros./New Line Cinema's horror film Annabelle which earned $37.1 million. The film is the biggest debut of Fincher's career (breaking Panic Room's opening). It was also the third biggest opening weekend for Affleck—behind Pearl Harbor ($59.1 million), and Daredevil ($40.3 million)—and Rosamund Pike's second biggest opening—behind Die Another Day ($47 million). The film is the tenth biggest October debut overall. The film played 60% female and 75% over 25 years old.[37] The film topped the box office for two consecutive weekends despite facing competition with Dracula Untold in its second weekend[38] before being overtaken by Fury in its third weekend.[39]
Outside North America, it earned $24.6 million from 5,270 screens in 39 international markets on its opening weekend, higher than expected.[28] High openings were witnessed in the United Kingdom ($6.7 million),[40] Australia ($4.6 million),[40] France ($3.65 million)[41] Russia ($3.4 million),[40] and Germany ($2.6 million).[40]
Critical response
Rosamund Pike's performance garnered widespread critical acclaim, earning her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress.Gone Girl received highly positive reviews from critics, with Pike's performance in particular earning widespread acclaim. Rotten Tomatoes gives the film an approval rating of 88%, based on 368 reviews, with an average rating of 8/10. The website's critical consensus reads: "Dark, intelligent, and stylish to a fault, Gone Girl plays to director David Fincher's sick strengths while bringing the best out of stars Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike."[42] Metacritic gave the film a weighted average score of 79 out of 100, based on 49 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".[43] Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.[44][45]
The Vulture's critics praised the direction, screenplay, editing, score, visual style, and acting, particularly from Pike, Affleck, Tyler Perry, Carrie Coon, and Missi Pyle.[46] Kenneth Turan of the Los Angeles Times wrote: "Superbly cast from the two at the top to the smallest speaking parts, impeccably directed by Fincher and crafted by his regular team to within an inch of its life, Gone Girl shows the remarkable things that can happen when filmmaker and material are this well matched."[47] The Economist called the film a "brilliantly glacial adaptation ... This may not be the perfect film—but it is a perfect adaptation".[48]
Joshua Rothman wrote in The New Yorker that he enjoyed the film "in all its abstract, intellectual, postmodern glory" and that, similar to other postmodern narratives, the film adaptation is "decisively unreal ... [the] heroes and villains in Fincher's Gone Girl aren't people but stories". Rothman, who draws parallels between Gone Girl and Fincher's 1999 adaptation Fight Club, decides that the film is ultimately a farce and has resonated with filmgoers because it expresses "a creepy, confused, and troubling part of us".[5]
Anthony Lane of The New Yorker wrote: "At first blush, Gone Girl is natural Fincherland ... so why doesn't the movie claw us as The Social Network did? Who could have predicted that a film about murder, betrayal, and deception would be less exciting than a film about a website?"[7] Slant Magazine's Ed Gonzalez awarded the film two out of four stars, concluding: "Fincher and Flynn should have gone further and truly grappled with the real horror that, by giving his relationship with Amy another chance, Nick is indulging in one of the great myths of feminism: that it emasculates men. Rather than undermine that noxiousness, Fincher enshrouds it in funereal brushstrokes that cast his Gone Girl as a fashionable tumbling into an abyss of willful denial."[49]
In response to some of the criticisms of the film, Flynn said, "The whole point is that these are two people pretending to be other people, better people, versions of the dream guy and dream girl, but each one couldn't keep it up, so they destroy each other".[50]
Accolades
Gone Girl garnered awards and nominations in a variety of categories with praise for its direction, Pike's performance, Flynn's screenplay, and its soundtrack. At the 87th Academy Awards, Pike received a nomination for Best Actress.[51] The film received four nominations at the 72nd Golden Globe Awards: Best Director for Fincher, Best Actress in a Drama for Pike, Best Screenplay for Flynn, and Best Original Score.[52] Pike received a nomination for Best Actress at the 68th British Academy Film Awards (BAFTAs).[53] The National Board of Review included the film in their list of top ten films of the year,[54] and the soundtrack was nominated for the 2015 Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media.[55]
Top ten lists
Gone Girl was listed on many critics' top ten lists.[56]
- 3rd – Matthew Jacobs & Christopher Rosen, The Huffington Post
- 3rd – Genevieve Koski, The Dissolve
- 3rd – People
- 3rd – Mara Reinstein, Us Weekly
- 3rd – James Rocchi, TheWrap
- 4th – Ben Kenigsberg & Nick Schager, The A.V. Club
- 4th – William Gross, Austin Chronicle
- 4th – Joshua Rothkopf, Time Out New York
- 4th – Brian Tallerico, RogerEbert.com
- 4th – Adam Chitwood, Collider
- 4th – Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald
- 4th – Gregory Ellwood, HitFix
- 5th – Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
- 5th – David Ehrlich, Little White Lies
- 7th – Tasha Robinson, The Dissolve
- 7th – Chris Nashawaty, Entertainment Weekly
- 7th – Christopher Orr, The Atlantic
- 7th – Justin Chang & Scott Foundas, Variety
- 8th – Jeff Baker, The Oregonian
- 8th – Christy Lemire RogerEbert.com
- 8th – Steve Persall, Tampa Bay Times
- 8th – James Berardinelli, Reelviews
- 9th – Rene Rodriguez, Miami Herald
- 9th – Joe Neumaier, New York Daily News
- 9th – A.A. Dowd and Ignatiy Vishnevetsky, The A.V. Club
- Top 10 (ranked alphabetically) – Dana Stevens, Slate
- Top 10 (ranked alphabetically) – Calvin Wilson, St. Louis Post-Dispatch
- Top 10 (ranked alphabetically) – Claudia Puig, USA Today
