New Movie Releases Oct. 18-20: Should 'Carrie' Be Scared of 'Captain Phillips'?

You have to feel a little sorry for the new movies going into wide release this weekend. They're facing competition from not one, but two very strong returning films in "Gravity" and "Captain Phillips." "Gravity" is on a record-breaking run that began two weeks ago, and "Captain Phillips" opened to relatively big second-place ticket sales last week. Both those films have drawn slightly older audiences, however, potentially leaving young movie-goers hungry for what at least one of this week's new releases is offering.

"Carrie," the remake of the 1976 film based on Stephen King's novel, opens in 3,000 theaters this weekend, and it's the only new horror film that will hit theaters in the two weeks before Halloween. Horror films have done exceptionally well this year, with "The Conjuring" being one of the biggest successes of the summer. "Carrie" is getting moderately positive reviews prior to its release, so it's likely to perform reasonably well.

The second new wide release is "Escape Plan," starring Sylvester Stallone and Arnold Schwarzenegger. The film isn't getting much love from critics, and it's possible that the public's appetite for "Expendables"-style vehicles for aging action stars is satisfied at this point.

The third big new release is "The Fifth Estate," a ripped-from-the-headlines thriller starring Benedict Cumberbatch as WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange. This film is also failing to gather many positive reviews (40% positive on Rotten Tomatoes), and its opening in the UK last week was underwhelming.