NEW YORK (AP) — Ten days after its theatrical release, “Deadpool & Wolverine” is already the highest-grossing R-rated movie of all time, not accounting for inflation.
The Marvel Studios blockbuster starring Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman continued to dominate theaters in its second weekend, bringing in a studio-estimated $97 million on Sunday. That brought its two-week gross to $395.6 million, overtaking the R-rated “The Passion of the Christ,” which had held the record for 20 years with $370 million in domestic grosses.
Directed by Shawn Levy, Deadpool & Wolverine has quickly grossed $824.1 million worldwide, already surpassing the global box office takings of the first two Deadpool films: the 2016 original grossed $782.6 million worldwide, and the 2018 sequel grossed $734.5 million.
Both challengers in the weekend primary struggled.
M. Night Shyamalan’s latest thriller, Trapped, opened to a modest $15.6 million in 3,181 theaters for Warner Bros. Distribution. The film, which stars Josh Hartnett as a serial killer pursued by police at a pop concert, wasn’t screened for critics before opening night and received lower-than-usual reviews for Shyamalan’s films (48% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes). Audiences gave it a CinemaScore of C+.
Made on a budget of about $35 million, which Shyamalan largely self-financed, “Trap” didn’t need a blockbuster hit, but it may have a hard time breaking even.
“It’s a soft opening for M. Night Shyamalan’s suspenseful crime thriller,” wrote film consultant David A. Gross of the Franchise Entertainment newsletter. “The writer-director’s films have grossed significantly more than other original thrillers, but, like this one, this start isn’t on the same level as Shyamalan’s recent work.”
Harold the Purple Crayon, a live-action adaptation of the classic children’s book, also didn’t fare much better in theaters. Released by Sony Pictures, the film debuted with $6 million. It received poor reviews from critics (28% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes), but audiences (CinemaScore A-) praised the film. Starring Zachary Levi, Harold the Purple Crayon cost about $40 million to make.
Universal Pictures’ disaster movie “Twisters” continues to be a big hit at the box office, earning $22.7 million in its third weekend, keeping it in second place. Director Lee Isaac Chung’s sequel to the 1996 original, starring Glen Powell, Daisy Edgar-Jones and Anthony Ramos, has made $195.6 million domestically. While it didn’t make as much of an impact overseas, “Twisters” has performed particularly well in North American theaters, where it’s down just 35% from the previous week.
Hollywood finished July with its best month of the year and its first $1 billion monthly haul since July 2023. While comparisons to last year are unfavorable (July was the month that “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” were released), two of Walt Disney Co.’s films, “Inside Out 2” and “Wolverine & Deadpool” — the two biggest movies of the year — led a great month for the industry.
But there will also be reminders of a tough period for movie theaters in the spring and early summer, when a dearth of films on the release calendar and some notable flops sent the box office into the red.On Friday, AMC Theatres, North America’s largest movie theater chain, announced a loss of $32.8 million for the second quarter of 2024.
These are estimates of ticket sales in U.S. and Canadian cinemas from Friday through Sunday, according to ComScore. Final domestic figures will be released on Monday.
1. Deadpool & Wolverine, $97 million.
2. Twisters, $22.7 million
3. “Trapped,” $15.6 million
4. Despicable Me, $11.3 million
5. Inside Out 2, $6.7 million
6. Harold the Purple Crayon, $6 million
7. Long Legs, $4.1 million
8. “A Quiet Place” $1.4 million
9. “Dar na Paenda Hove,” $615,782.
10. Bad Boys 2, $600,000
