Box Office: ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ Reclaims #1 in 5th Week

Two new movies just barely cracked the top 5 in one of the worst weekends of the summer with no movie making more than $17 million. Here’s the weekend box office report.

“Deadpool and Wolverine” returned to the top spot with an estimated $18.3 million, down 39% in its fifth weekend. This brings its domestic total to $577.2 million. This not only marks the second-best performance of the year after Pixar’s “Inside Out 2,” but it also surpassed last year’s “The Super Mario Bros. Movie,” securing its position as the 16th highest-grossing domestic blockbuster ever. Marvel Studios’ sole release of 2024 has earned over $1.2 billion globally, with an additional $20.2 million from overseas this weekend.

Disney’s “Alien: Romulus” experienced a significant decline in its second weekend, dropping to second place with $16.2 million, a 61% decrease. This brings its North American total to $72.6 million. It is closing in on 2017’s “Alien: Covenant,” likely becoming the second-highest-grossing movie in the “Alien” franchise soon. Internationally, “Alien: Romulus” added $41.6 million this weekend, bringing its overseas total to $152.8 million and a global total of $225.4 million.

“It Ends with Us” hit the $100 million mark domestically this past week, crossing $200 million worldwide. It added another $11.9 million this weekend, taking third place, despite a 50% decline from the previous weekend. The movie has collected $120.8 million after just three weeks in theaters. Blake Lively’s hit drama earned an additional $22.3 million internationally, bringing its global total to $242.6 million. Sony might already be considering adapting Colleen Hoover’s follow-up novel, “It Starts With Us,” as a sequel.

Amazon MGM released Zoë Kravitz’s directorial debut, the thriller “Blink Twice,” starring Channing Tatum and Naomi Ackie, into 3,067 theaters on Friday. The reviews have been generally positive. It brought in $820,000 during Thursday previews and $2.9 million on Friday, including previews, reaching an estimated $7.3 million to open in fourth place for the weekend.

Sony’s Affirm Films imprint released the faith-based drama “The Forge” into 1,818 theaters on Friday. Directed by Alex Kendrick, the drama made $2.4 million on Friday, including $600,000 from Thursday previews. It ended up in fifth place with an estimated $6.6 million. “The Forge” received an A+ CinemaScore, which is typical for faith-based films.

The reboot of “Twisters” added another $6.2 million this weekend, seeing a 38% decline. It now stands at $248.7 million domestically, holding its position as the fifth-highest grossing film of the year.

The big disappointment of the weekend was Lionsgate’s attempt at rebooting “The Crow” with Bill Skarsgård and FKA Twigs. Opening in 2,752 theaters, it received poor reviews, reaching only 20% on Rotten Tomatoes. Despite making $650,000 in Thursday previews, “The Crow” ended up earning just $2 million on Friday, and an estimated $4.6 million over the weekend, placing it in eighth. Both “The Crow” and “Blink Twice” received “B-” CinemaScores, indicating poor word-of-mouth reception.

“The Crow” ended up making less money than the 15th-anniversary “Coraline” re-release. The stop-motion animated movie added $5 million this weekend, a 48% decline, bringing its re-release total to $22 million and surpassing the $100 million mark.

Universal’s animated sequel “Despicable Me 4” concluded its run in the top 10 with an additional $4.4 million, securing ninth place with a domestic total of $348.3 million.

New distributor Magenta Light Studios released JT Mollner’s action-thriller “Strange Darling” into 1,135 theaters on Friday. After earning $442,000 on its opening day, it estimated $1,144,182 over the weekend, averaging $1,008 per location.

Nathan Silver’s comedy “Between the Temples,” starring Jason Schwartzman and Carol Kane, was released by Sony Pictures Classics into 576 theaters. However, no box office numbers have been reported for the weekend. Similarly, there are no reported numbers for Lionsgate’s crime-comedy “Greedy People,” which may not have been released as widely as anticipated. Updates will follow if and when numbers are reported.

A significant aspect of the Gold Derby box office prediction game was the 22 players who accurately predicted “Deadpool and Wolverine” would reclaim the top spot, pushing “Alien: Romulus” to second. Over 100 players thought “The Crow” would crack the top 5, which it didn’t, but just five players predicted “The Forge” opening at #5. We’ll see if anyone managed a perfect score this week.

Six players achieved perfect scores in the August 16 game, with “napierslogs” earning the most points (25,014). Two regulars, “Micah” and “MellowDrama,” scored over 30,000 points despite only going five-for-six.

Next weekend is Labor Day, and the releases seem even more low-key than this week’s offerings. Stay tuned for the weekend preview to see what’s coming out.

Source: Gold Derby