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This weekend might have been good for candy, costumes and baseball, but it wasn't great for motion pictures. In fact, it was the worst weekend at the box office this year. Here's NPR's Andrew Limbong on a rough month at the movies.

ANDREW LIMBONG, BYLINE: According to the movie-tracking website Box Office Mojo, this October made half as much money as last October. And this past weekend - dismal. A-list stars Bradley Cooper and Sandra Bullock both had movies open - for Cooper, the cooking drama "Burnt."

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "BURNT")

BRADLEY COOPER: (As Adam Jones) The kitchen's the only place that I ever felt like I really belonged.

LIMBONG: Bullock had the political satire "Our Brand Is Crisis."

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "OUR BRAND IS CRISIS")

SANDRA BULLOCK: (As Jane) Of course you're a puppet. We're just pawns.

LIMBONG: Both were beaten by movies that have been out for weeks. Also, they weren't scary. Here's Jason Bailey. He's film editor at flavorwire.com.

JASON BAILEY: Traditionally, there are at least a couple of high-profile horror movies out for the teen and 20-year-olds to go see as part of the Halloween weekend. And they didn't have that this year.

LIMBONG: It's been a month of flops. Robert Zemeckis's "The Walk," "Rock The Kasbah" with Bill Murray. Jason Bailey chalks these failures up to too many movies aimed at adults.

BAILEY: There were a lot of movies competing for the same limited audience in this month.

LIMBONG: It wasn't all flops this month. "The Martian" is a blockbuster that got good word-of-mouth and got adults out of the house.

BAILEY: But there's only so much of that audience to go around.

LIMBONG: This week, a slew of Oscar bait opens, as does the big box office hope "Spectre." Andrew Limbong, NPR News. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.