LOS ANGELES (AP) — On a sleepy summer weekend, holdovers dominated the box office while newcomers didn’t make much of a splash.
Deadpool & Wolverine reclaimed the highest spot on the North American box office in its fifth weekend with $18.3 million. Cumulative international earnings now exceed $1.2 billion.
The Walt Disney Co., which owns twentieth Century Studios, took the highest two spots on the charts for the second weekend in a row, closely followed by “Alien: Romulus,” the superhero film with all its vulgarity.
The latest installment within the 45-year-old franchise grossed $16.2 million in its second weekend after a promising start. Disney's Inside Out 2 also stayed on the charts, taking in $2.1 million domestically in its eleventh weekend. Worldwide earnings now top $1.6 billion.
“This is an incredible turnaround for Disney, which shockingly almost disappeared from the scene last year and during the pandemic,” said Paul Dergarabedian, senior media analyst at Comscore. “They've released a couple of billion-dollar movies so far, and 'Moana 2' is still on the way. This is a huge comeback year for Disney – no question about it.”
Another chart-topper, romantic drama “It Ends With Us” landed at number three for the second weekend in a row with $11.9 million. The Sony film, starring Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni, who also directed it, has grossed $242.6 million worldwide up to now, on a production cost of just $25 million.
The recent releases fell victim to the crowded movie market, resulting in what Dergarabedian called “deja vu at the box office”: the well-known movies dominated and made it difficult for brand new releases to interrupt in. Dergarabedian says the upcoming Labor Day will likely profit the newer titles as word of mouth spreads and more people flock to theaters over the long weekend.
“Blink Twice” by Zoë Kravitz, starring her partner Channing Tatum, had a modest start, grossing $7.3 million and landing at number 4 on the charts. The psychological thriller from Amazon MGM Studios follows Tatum as tech magnate Slater King, who kidnaps two women to his private island. While it initially looks like a picture-perfect vacation, way more sinister events unfold when the visitors learn the reality in regards to the island and the billionaire. The film's budget is claimed to be $20 million.
Reviews were mixed. Audiences gave the film a CinemaScore of B-, nevertheless it received a 79% “Certified Fresh” rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
Rounding out the highest five was “The Forge,” a religious-themed coming-of-age film a few young man finding his way through Christianity. The film grossed $6.6 million and received an A+ CinemaScore rating from audiences. It was released by Affirm Films, Sony's religious-themed film studio.
Another recent release, “The Crow,” was beaten within the rankings by “Twisters” and “Coraline.” “Twisters” opened its sixth week with $6.2 million in domestic receipts and “Coraline,” which was re-released last week for its fifteenth anniversary, brought in one other $5.1 million in its second weekend.
Lionsgate's “The Crow,” an R-rated adaptation of the acclaimed graphic novel and a remake of the 1994 film of the identical name, opened to $4.6 million. The studio also failed in August with the discharge of “Borderlands,” an adaptation of the video game that grossed $15.2 million over three weekends against a reported $120 million budget.
To complete the “leftover story,” as Dergarabedian put it, Despicable Me 4 and Inside Out 2 rounded out the weekend's top 10 movies, bringing in $4.4 million and $2.1 million, respectively. Inside Out 2 has been on the charts for 11 consecutive weekends and stays the top-grossing animated film of all time worldwide.
- “Deadpool & Wolverine,” $18.3 million.
- “Alien: Romulus,” $16.2 million.
- “It Ends With Us,” $11.9 million.
- “Blink Twice,” $7.3 million.
- “The Forge,” $6.6 million.
- “Twisters,” $6.2 million.
- “Coraline,” $5.1 million.
- “The Crow,” $4.6 million.
- “Despicable Me 4,” $4.4 million.
- “Inside Out 2,” $2.1 million.
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