Marvel Studios’ Deadpool & Wolverine delivered $54.2m in its third weekend as the newly crowned $1bn global smash surged to $494.3m in North America, staying top ahead of a spectacular $50m debut for Sony’s romantic drama It Ends With Us.
It was a great weekend for the Ryan Reynolds-Blake Lively household that maintained an encouraging summer season and for the first time saw two films earn $50m or more in the same weekend in the traditionally slow month of August. Studios will confirm numbers on Monday.
Active in 4,330 locations, Deadpool & Wolverine overtook Black Panther: Wakanda Forever on $454m and Avengers: Age Of Ultron on $459m to rank as the sixth highest Marvel Cinematic Universe release of all time.
The film directed by Shawn Levy starring Reynolds and Hugh Jackman previously established itself as the highest-grossing R-rated release ever, and the second highest release of the year to date behind Disney stablemate Inside Out 2.
Meanwhile Columbia Pictures/Wayfarer Studios’ romance It Ends With Us opened strongly in second place on the back of solid reviews and a strong approval rating by theatre-goers, who gave it an A-CinemaScore and a 4.5 star PostTrak rating.
The feature about a budding romance overshadowed by generational trauma was also produced by Lively, while Justin Baldoni directed and co-stars. At a reported cost of $25m, It Ends With Us opened in 3,611 sites to produce one of the best debuts by a romantic drama.
Crucially, it is adapted from Colleen Hoover’s bestseller, which enabled the studio to appeal to the book’s many fans.
Romance films adapted from novels have delivered the highest opening weekends in the genre. Fifty Shades Of Grey leads the pack with an unadjusted $85.2m debut in 2015 and beside the two other films in that franchise, other notable titles include The Fault In Our Stars and Me Before You.
Each film produced a multiple ranging from 2X to 3X, indicating that It Ends With Us could finish its run on more than $100m in North America.
Lionsgate’s video game adaptation Borderlands misfired with an $8.8m number four opening weekend from 3,125 sites. Directed by Eli Roth, the film reportedly cost $115m and stars Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, Jamie Lee Curtis and Ariana Greenblatt in the story of a team of misfits on a quest.
Lionsgate sources noted much of the budget was recouped through international pre-sales. The film is an Arad /Picturestart and Gearbox Studios / 2K production.
Summer hit Twisters, released by Universal in North America, ranked third on $15m from 3,644 sites resulting in a $222.3m tally after four weekends. Glen Powell and Daisy Edgar-Jones star and Lee Isaac Chung directed. Universal/Illumination’s Despicable Me 4 in fifth added $8m for $330.1m after six.
Pixar’s Inside Out 2 in seventh place earned $5m after an impressive 27% drop to reach $636.5m after nine sessions. Based on estimates at this stage, the highest-grossing animation of all time has overtaken last year’s smash Barbie, which finished on $636.2m, to rank as the 11th highest-grossing release of all time in North America.
Pixar head Pete Docter announced at Disney’s D23 fan convention in southern California on Friday that the studio will debut a spin-off series next year.
Neon opened Tilman Singer’s Berlinale selection Cuckoo starring Hunter Schafer on $3m. The horror about a teen who relocates with her family to a strange resort played in 1,503 screens.
And Neon’s horror Longlegs starring Maika Monroe and Nicolas Cage added $2m from 1,310 screens to reach $71.3m after five weekends and consolidate its position as the company’s biggest hit.
In its third weekend, Sean Wang’s Sundance hit Didi earned $650,000 from 200 theatres to reach $1.6m. It expands this week into 500 theatres. A24’s TIFF 2023 prison theatre group drama Sing Sing starring Colman Domingo expanded into 39 screens in its fifth weekend, adding $226,925 for $821,862.
Rich Peppiatt’s Irish Oscar submission Kneecap grossed $103,426 through Sony Pictures Classics in its second weekend to reach $819,650.
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