‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ Rakes in $97M During Huge Second Weekend

All hail Marvel Jesus.

“Deadpool & Wolverine,” starring Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman, has given the box office another boost, earning a remarkable $97 million in its second weekend. This figure, despite being a 53% drop from its $211 million debut, ranks as the eighth biggest second weekend in the history of domestic box office collections. Only blockbusters like “Star Wars: The Force Awakens,” “Avengers: Endgame,” “Infinity War,” “Black Panther,” “Jurassic World,” “The Avengers,” and “Inside Out 2” have had bigger second weekend earnings. “Deadpool & Wolverine” has also overtaken last year’s hit “Barbie,” which previously held the No. 8 spot with $93 million in its second weekend.

So far, “Deadpool & Wolverine” has garnered $395 million in North America and $824 million worldwide, surpassing the $783 million and $786 million earned by the first two “Deadpool” films within just two weeks of release. This sequel stands as the second-biggest movie of 2024, trailing only “Inside Out 2,” which boasts a global haul of $1.555 billion.

As “Deadpool & Wolverine” continues to dominate, two new releases struggled to make an impact. M. Night Shyamalan’s latest thriller “Trap,” featuring Josh Hartnett as a father who leads a double life as a serial killer, opened in third place with $15 million from 3,181 theaters. In contrast, Sony’s “Harold and the Purple Crayon” performed poorly, landing in sixth place with just $6 million from 3,325 theaters.

“Trap” marked one of the weaker debuts in Shyamalan’s career. His previous films, “Knock at the Cabin” and “Old,” also had modest starts with $14.1 million and $16.8 million, respectively. While “Old” managed to recover and gross $48 million domestically and $90 million globally, “Knock at the Cabin” ended its run with $35 million domestically and $54 million globally.

Shyamalan, known for hits like “The Sixth Sense,” “Split,” and “Unbreakable,” typically finances his own films and relies on Warner Bros. for distribution. With a production cost of around $30 million, “Trap” will need to perform more like “Old” rather than “Knock at the Cabin” to justify its budget.

“Harold and the Purple Crayon,” a blend of live-action and animation based on the children’s book, lagged behind other family-friendly films like “Despicable Me 4” and “Inside Out 2” despite those movies being in theaters for over a month. Carrying a $40 million production budget, Sony is hopeful that “Harold” will attract families through the rest of the summer.

Universal’s disaster film “Twisters” secured the No. 2 spot with $22 million in its third weekend. Starring Glen Powell, Daisy Edgar-Jones, and Anthony Ramos, the film has been a box office hit, earning $194 million domestically and nearly $250 million globally to date.

Thanks to several successful blockbusters, July’s domestic revenue reached $1.2 billion, making it the first billion-dollar month since July 2023 when “Barbenheimer” was all the rage. However, despite recent hits like “Inside Out 2,” “Twisters,” “Despicable Me 4,” and “Deadpool & Wolverine,” the overall North American box office for 2024 remains 16.5% behind 2023, according to Comscore.

“July was outstanding, pushing the month over the $1 billion mark domestically,” says senior Comscore analyst Paul Dergarabedian. However, he predicts that the next few weeks won’t be as strong and that July’s hit films will need to support August as summer comes to a close.

More to come…