411 Box Office Report: Deadpool & Wolverine Reigns For Third Week, It Ends With Us Opens With $50 Million

Deadpool & Wolverine stayed atop the box office for a third weekend, fending off a surprisingly strong challenger in It Ends With Us. The MCU sequel held onto #1 with a $54.2 million third frame, down just 44% from last weekend’s numbers. It’s a continuing show of strength for this R-rated superhero film, which now stands at $494.3 million domestically and has crossed a new milestone with $1.029 billion worldwide.

Deadpool & Wolverine was already the highest domestic-grossing R-rated film of all time, and it’s set to become the highest worldwide gross for such in very short order. The current record belongs to Joker with $1.064 billion, a number that will be easily surpassed by next weekend. D&W is now the sixth-highest grossing film in the MCU and does have an outside shot of passing The Avengers’ $623.4 million for the #5 spot. It’s a massive hit for Disney and Marvel against a $200 million budget.

Ryan Reynolds’ film almost got clipped by Blake Lively though, as It Ends With Us opened to a massive $50 million for #2. The romantic drama heavily outperformed its expectations, which were looking to be in the $30 million range coming into the weekend. This marks the second best-ever opening for a romantic drama, behind only Fifty Shades of Grey’s $85.2 million start in February of 2015. It’s Lively’s best opening as a lead actor since she co-starred in Green Lantern with Reynolds to the tune of $53.2 million in 2011.

Much like Fifty Shades, It Ends With Us’ business was driven off fans of its source material, in this case the book by Colleen Hoover. The novel is a massive best-seller and Sony effectively marketed this to the female-dominated fanbase of the material. This is a demo isn’t often served well in theaters, but when they have a reason they come out in force.

And that’s a good thing, because the critics weren’t adding much buzz. It Ends With Us is sitting at a lukewarm 59% aggregated score on Rotten Tomatoes – but much like an MCU film or other fandom-heavy property, the critics were only going to have so much weight here. The word of mouth is what really mattered, and it scored there with an A- CinemaScore and 94% RT audience rating.

There’s no two ways about it: Sony has a major hit on its hands here. It Ends With Us added $30 million overseas for an $80 million worldwide weekend against a budget of just $25 million. The film should be able to get to $140 million to $150 million in the US, which will be major money for the studio.

Twisters continues to show great legs, down a mere 24% to $15 million in its fourth weekend. The disaster sequel is now up to $222.3 million domestically and $310.1 million worldwide, meaning it will be a nicely profitable venture for Universal against a $155 million budget. It is currently looking strong to finish out somewhere around $250 million domestically.

Lionsgate had an enormous flop with Borderlands, which landed with a thud at #4. The Eli Roth-directed adaptation of the hit video game franchise grossed just $8.8 million, below even the worrying $10 million expected start. This is kind of an unmitigated disaster for the studio, who failed to deliver on a fan-favorite property despite spending big on it.

Borderlands’ long and troubled road to the big screen probably should have been a warning sign, and it certainly hurt expectations around the movie. On the surface this should be a hit: it’s a rowdy action-comedy with a star-heavy cast based off an incredibly popular IP. But a ton of production delays and heavy reshoots gave the film a negative buzz that it was never able to shake, and Lionsgate didn’t exactly give their all in promoting it either.

Of course, there’s also the factor that, by every metric, the film seems to be awful. It’s rocking an abysmal 9% aggregated rating on Rotten Tomatoes, and word of mouth is just as bad at a lousy D+ CinemaScore and 50% RT audience rating. That all adds up to no positive chatter, no positive word of mouth, and no positive financial results.

An $8.8 million start would be bad if Borderlands was a $60 million to $70 million production, but Lionsgate isn’t that lucky. The film cost a reported $120 million, making this pretty much a disaster. There’s always the chance that overseas grosses help out here, but not enough to bring this anywhere near profit. Its final domestic gross is probably somewhere around $25 million to $30 million. Better luck next time, folks.

Despicable Me 4 eased 30% in its fifth weekend to bring in $8 million. The animated sequel has now totaled $330.1 million domestically and $807.2 million worldwide to date, giant numbers against a $100 million production budget. The film is now looking at around $350 million or more by the end of its stateside run, which would put it #3 in the franchise (including Minions).

Trap held on perfectly average for an M. Night Shyamalan film, down 56% to $6.7 million. The Josh Hartnett-starring thriller is looking to be on solid shape, as it now stands at $28.7 million domestically and $45.3 million worldwide against a $30 million budget. As it currently stands, it’s still looking to finish with about $40 million in the US, a perfectly acceptable result.

Inside Out 2 edged down 27% in its ninth frame to $5 million. The Pixar sequel has a total of $636.5 million domestically and $1.594 billion worldwide, passing Barbie to become the 11th highest grossing film of all time in the US. It would have to hold on very well to pass Jurassic World’s $652.3 million for #10, but it’s not impossible by any stretch. The budget was $200 million.

Harold and the Purple Crayon fell 48% in its second weekend to $3.1 million. The live action/CGI hybrid family film was already DOA with its low start last weekend and $40 million budget, but it’s fighting to make as much as it can. It currently sits at $12.9 million domestically and $15.9 million worldwide and will probably end its stateside run at around $15 million.

Neon Films’ latest movie was Cuckoo, and it opened at #9. The Hunter Schafer-starring horror film got off to a #3 million start. That’s obviously not a Longlegs-level opening, but it was never intended to be. Cuckoo was a harder sell than Longlegs, which had Nicolas Cage, a serial killer hook and a brilliant marketing campaign; meanwhile, this film had a much harder storyline to sum up in a marketing pitch without giving too much away.

Cuckoo is still in fine shape regardless. The film cost a reported $7 million with a low marketing spend. The critical reviews have been good at a 78% RT aggregated score and word of mouth is fine for horror at a C+ CinemaScore/62% RT audience score (both on par with Longlegs). This should close out domestically with around $7 million to $8 million and international grosses should push this to profit.

Speaking of Longlegs, it closed out the top 10 with $2 million which is down 53% from last weekend. The Osgood Perkins horror film has thus far grossed $71.3 million domestically and $87.5 million worldwide, making it a very big money maker against a $10 million budget. The film will top $75 million in the US.

We should see a new #1 next weekend as Fede Alvarez’s Alien: Romulus arrives to the tune of $45 million.

BOX OFFICE TOP TEN (Three-Day Domestic Numbers)
1. Deadpool & Wolverine – $54.1 million ($494.3 million total, $1.029 billion WW)
2. It Ends With Us – $50 million ($50 million total, $80 million WW)
3. Twisters – $15 million ($222.3 million total, $310.1 million WW)
4. Borderlands – $8.8 million ($8.8 million total, $8.8 million WW)
5. Despicable Me 4 – $8 million ($330.1 million total, $807.2 million WW)
6. Trap – $6.7 million ($28.7 million total, $45.3 million WW)
7. Inside Out 2 – $5 million ($636.5 million total, $1.594 billion WW)
8. Harold and the Purple Crayon – $3.1 million ($12.9 million total, $15.9 million WW)
9. Cuckoo – $3 million ($3 million total, $3 million WW)
10. Longlegs – $2 million ($71.3 million total, $87.5 million WW)