Let’s check in with the current movies at the top of the box office. Up until this weekend, the number one film was Gone Girl, based on Gillian Flynn’s bestselling novel about a man and his missing wife. In the film, Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike took on the starring roles, drawing in over $18 million in ticket sales since it opened on Oct. 3. Both actors’ performances and the film itself are already generating Oscar buzz, according to Entertainment Weekly.

An equally dark and bleak film, Fury, starring Brad Pitt, opened this weekend and overtook Gone Girl in ticket sales, reaching over $23.5 million. Set at the end of World War II, the film follows Pitt, a U.S. sergeant commanding his tank crew of five men during the Allies’ final attempts to defeat Nazi Germany.

On the opposite side of the spectrum are the family-friendly films including The Book of Life, which has reached $17 million at the box office. Released Oct. 17, the computer-animated tale is inspired by Mexican folklore. Produced by famed filmmaker Guillermo Del Toro, the film is a departure from his dark supernatural films Pan’s Labyrinth and Hellboy. With Halloween and Day of the Dead themes, the film is aimed at a younger crowd, but its creepy, funny plot and unusual art keep the film interesting for adults as well as fans of The Nightmare Before Christmas.

Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day, released Oct. 10, is Disney’s live-action adaptation of the 1972 children’s book by Judith Viorst and has generated $12 million. Newcomer Ed Oxenbould plays 11-year-old Alexander, while Jennifer Garner and Steve Carell play his parents. Alexander’s exploits will appeal to kids and fans of the beloved book.

Beyond those films, the remainder of the top box office films are either relatively unknown or not that good, according to movie review sites Rotten Tomatoes and Fandango. These films include The Best of Me, the latest Nicholas Sparks romance, with an eight percent out of 100 rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and Dracula Untold, because the world really needs an action-adventure Dracula origin story.

To say the least, fall isn’t exactly prime box office season. We’re in between summer blockbusters and the holidays, so most hits will open in November around Thanksgiving.

One highly anticipated flick is the latest Hunger Games installment, Hunger Games: Mockingjay—Part 1, opening Nov. 21. Director Francis Lawrence split the final book in Suzanne Collins’ trilogy into two films, following Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence) in her continued rebellion against a stifling dystopian society.

Thanksgiving weekend is also a big draw for animated films. Last year Disney released Frozen at this time; this year, the company is following up with Big Hero 6, about a boy who finds an inflatable robot, based on Marvel Worldwide Inc. characters.

DreamWorks is also releasing The Penguins of Madagascar, a spin-off of its successful Madagascar movies featuring the films’ four secret-agent penguins.

Hang in there until November ushers in the fall movie season, when there will be a plethora of choices at the theater. Until then, vanishing wives, bad romances and animated Halloween fare will have to tide us over.