Deadpool’s 58.5% second weekend drop would be a bit more damaging if the Merc with a Mouth hadn’t made such a big splash in his opening weekend—a $132.2 million cannonball that drowned the competition and soaked analysts who underestimated the size of the event by half. To put Deadpool’s February box office exploits in perspective—it beat by more than a month the earliest date that any film had earned over $100 million during a 3-day opening weekend.
Deadpool’s $235.9 million domestic total has made the film (after just ten days) the highest-grossing X-Men movie of all time in North America (not adjusted for inflation). The X-Men connection can be overplayed, but this is akin to a Venom movie out earning Spider-Man! It is also now clear that the character of Deadpool, which was created by Rob Liefeld, is at this time the most popular creation by any of the artists who formed Image Comics, something that Liefeld, whose talents have been long been underrated by art-obsessed comic book fans, must be enjoying.
Deadpool is already the sixth highest-grossing “R” rated movie of all time domestically (not adjusted), and it appears to have a chance at surpassing American Sniper ($350 million) and The Passion of the Christ ($377 million). One thing is certain—Deadpool’s strong performance overseas where it has already earned $256.5 million for a worldwide total of $491.9 million, which means that the X-Men spin-off will definitely surpass The Passion of the Christ’s $611.9 million worldwide total (again not adjusted).
Deadpool has already passed the domestic total of 300 ($210 million) to become the highest-grossing “R” rated comic book movie of all time (and topped 300’s worldwide total of $456 million as well). With little in the way of direct competition next week, Deadpool is favored to top the box office for three weeks in a row. Already a phenomenal hit, it just remains to be seen how much staying power the wise-cracking Merc movie has as it works its way up the list of Marvel-based films over the next few weeks. Right now it appears as if only the Avengers films, Iron Man 3 and the original Spider-Man Trilogy (adjusted for inflation) will remain ahead of Deadpool on the Marvel movie list.
Second place went to Kung Fu Panda 3, which continues to chug along, earning $12.5 million and bringing its domestic total to $117.1 million. Worldwide, KFP 3 has brought in almost $280 million, a nice total, but a trifle disappointing given the movie’s initial (but un-sustained) success in the Chinese market.
Risen, the religious-themed movie that stars Joseph Fiennes as a Roman officer investigating the mysterious resurrection of Christ, earned $11.8 million, the fourth best debut of a faith-based film in recent times. It remains to be seen if the niche marketing of Risen, which included a visit by the film stars with Pope Francis, will provide the kind of “legs” that will keep Risen in a substantial number of theaters through the Lenten season. Risen earned a solid “A-“ CinemaScore, which should help its chances.
Set in Seventeenth Century New England, The Witch, which was directed by Robert Eggers, was a hit at Sundance last year where it earned Eggers the “Best Director” title. Since A24 acquired the rights to the film for $1 million, the movies $8.7 million opening has got to be seen as a victory, even if the movie’s may have been disappointed judging from the film’s “C-“ CinemaScore from opening weekend audiences, though frankly that kind of score was not unexpected, given that The Witch is more of an “art” film than a straight shocker.
The other new film out this week is the Jesse Owens biopic Race, which earned $7.3 million and ended up in sixth place. Made for just $5 million, Race skimps on the spectacle of the 1936 Olympics, but delivered enough human drama to receive an “A” CinemaScore from an audience that was slightly female (51%), and quite a bit older (76% over 25, and 56% over 35).
Debuting in just 35 theaters, Stephen Chow’s The Mermaid, a modern day fantasy about a businessman who falls in love with a mermaid who is sent to kill him to avenge environmental crimes committed by his company, earned over a million for a solid $29,000 per theater average. The Mermaid has earned over $400 million in China where it is now the highest-grossing film ever.
Last week’s two new comedies, How to Be Single (down 54%) and Zoolander 2 (down 60.3%) both suffered large % drops for comedies, a strong indication of more box office problems to come. The fate of the Coen Brothers’ Hail, Caesar!, which suffered another big drop in its third weekend (down 58.7%), likely awaits Zoolander 2, and quite possible How to Be Single.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens continues to shed theaters (it is now down to 1618) as it earned $3.8 million in its tenth weekend of release to bring its record domestic total (not adjusted) to $921 million. A final tally of between $930 and $940 awaits the hugely successful reviver of the Star Wars franchise.
Meanwhile The Revenant, which is also dropping venues, also earned $3.8 million bringing its domestic total to $165.1 million, making it Leonardo DiCaprio’s third biggest hit, trailing only Inception ($292 million) and Titanic ($658 million).
Be sure to check back here next week to see how the 3D fantasy Gods of Egypt, the “R” rated crime film Triple 9, and the inspirational sports biopic Eddie the Eagle fare at the box office.
