Movies 5 months ago

Reynolds-Lively Lead Box Office This Weekend

Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively both shine at the box office this weekend, with Deadpool & Wolverine leading and It Ends With Us making a strong debut.

In the latest box-office battle between Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively, both emerged victorious. Reynolds' Marvel Studios hit, Deadpool & Wolverine, continued to dominate North American theaters, remaining the top film for the third consecutive week with an impressive $54.2 million in ticket sales. Globally, the film has now exceeded $1 billion in earnings. Close behind was Lively’s romance drama, It Ends With Us, which exceeded forecasts with a remarkable $50 million debut.

The success of these films created a unique situation reminiscent of "Barbenheimer", where two very different movies thrived thanks to strategic counterprogramming. This time, however, the stars were a famous Hollywood couple. This type of dual success isn’t entirely new; a similar occurrence happened in 1990 with Bruce Willis' Die Hard 2 and Demi Moore's Ghost.

The weekend also saw a significant flop. Borderlands, a long-awaited $120 million adaptation of the popular video game directed by Eli Roth, debuted poorly with just $8.8 million. Featuring Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, and Jack Black, the film, which was shot in 2021, struggled with delays and reshoots and received a disappointing 10% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, marking it as one of the year's worst films.

Meanwhile, Deadpool & Wolverine—featuring Hugh Jackman and directed by Shawn Levy—is now the second R-rated movie to surpass $1 billion, joining the ranks of 2019’s Joker. In just three weeks, it has become one of the most successful Marvel releases of the year, trailing only behind Disney’s Inside Out ($1.6 billion worldwide) among 2024's top earners.

Lively, who both stars in and produced It Ends With Us, makes a cameo in Deadpool & Wolverine. The film, adapted from Colleen Hoover’s bestselling romance novel, features Lively as Lily Bloom, a florist in a love triangle. Produced for a modest $25 million, it is set to be highly profitable for Columbia Pictures and Wayfarer Studios. It has received an A- CinemaScore and could perform well through the slower August period, similar to Sony’s Where the Crawdads Sing.

Additionally, Neon’s Cuckoo, a German horror film set in the Alps and directed by Tilman Singer, opened with $3 million on 1,503 screens. Starring Hunter Schafer and Dan Stevens, the film adds to the weekend’s diverse lineup.

Here is the estimated box office performance from Friday through Sunday in U.S. and Canadian theaters, as reported by Comscore. Final domestic figures will be available on Monday.