Gone Girl (2014)
Mystery, Thriller, Drama
The Kernel take
A 79 Kernel Score ("Generally Favorable") backed a film that returned roughly 4.1× its combined budget and marketing spend — a comfortably profitable outcome that matched its strong reviews.
Director track record: David Fincher
Gone Girl's 79 sits comfortably above David Fincher's 73-point career average across these eleven films — a solid, above-average outing for him, though well short of his career peak, The Social Network (95).
Lead track record: Ben Affleck
Gone Girl's 79 towers over Ben Affleck's 52-point average across these acting roles — among the best-reviewed titles of his career as an actor, behind only Shakespeare in Love (87).
Box office
Budget $61M · Marketing $30M · Box office $370.9M
A 4.5× domestic multiplier and a modest -29.6% second-weekend drop are unusually strong holds for a wide-release thriller — Gone Girl kept earning steadily as word of mouth carried it through the fall rather than falling off a cliff after opening weekend.