There is absolutely no stopping Marvel Studios’ “Deadpool & Wolverine.” After a historic $211 million domestic/$438 million global opening weekend, the R-rated superhero crossover is earning one of the top 10 highest 2nd weekends in industry history with a $96.5 million domestic/$207.5 million global total.
That brings the film’s global total to $824 million, putting it in line to pass the theatrical run of “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” in the coming days.
As it continues its unstoppable run towards $1 billion and beyond, “Deadpool & Wolverine” is now the highest grossing R-rated domestic release in box office history, passing a 20-year record held by Mel Gibson’s “The Passion of the Christ” at $370 million.
After inflation adjustment, that total would sit at $616 million, but “Deadpool & Wolverine” is on pace to pass even that figure as it will clear $400 million domestic on just its second Monday in theaters.
Even better news for theaters is that there’s some solid secondary support coming from other films in the marketplace. Universal’s “Twisters” continues to perform well in Deadpool’s shadow, earning $22.6 million in its second weekend as its domestic total rises to $195.6 million, passing the theatrical run of “Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes” and “Bad Boys: Ride or Die.” On Monday, it will become the fifth film this year to pass $200 million domestic.
In third is the top opening film of this weekend, M. Night Shyamalan’s “Trap,” which was released in 3,181 theaters by Warner Bros. this weekend and has earnd an opening weekend of $15.6 million.
That is in line with pre-release projections and places the film in line to post a modest profit against its reported $30 million budget, which was self-financed by Shyamalan. But the film likely won’t leg out too much as it has earned a mixed reception with a C+ on CinemaScore and a 46% Rotten Tomatoes critics score.
But the big misfire of the weekend is Sony’s “Harold and the Purple Crayon,” which is opening outside the top 5 with a $6 million start against a reported $40 million budget.
While the adaptation of the classic children’s book starring Zachary Levi has been well received by families with an A- on CinemaScore and a 91% Rotten Tomatoes audience score, but it is opening below the $11.25 million fifth weekend of Universal/Illumination’s “Despicable Me 4” and the $6.7 million eighth weekend of Disney/Pixar’s “Inside Out 2.” With those animated films continuing to draw in families, it is unlikely that “Harold” will find the space to leg out.
