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Deadpool 2.jpg

Box Office Report: Insert Self-Referential Joke About 'Deadpool 2' and Box Office Numbers Here

By Kayleigh Donaldson | Film | May 20, 2018 |

By Kayleigh Donaldson | Film | May 20, 2018 |


Deadpool 2.jpg

While various people predicted that Deadpool 2 would break the box office record for an R-rated film opening weekend, it didn’t quite maintain its momentum to make that mark. That’s not to say that the merc with a mouth didn’t pull in the big bucks. A $125m opening weekend domestic is nothing to sneeze at, and it’s only about $7m short of breaking its own record. It also gave Fox its 2nd largest opening ever, right behind the original. That’ll bode well for that totally not a bad idea merger with Disney (although Comcast have also put in a bid for the studio’s properties, so pick your favourite media monopoly now!) Internationally, it’s already soared past $300m too, so expect Deadpool 3.

Avengers: Infinity War fell to number two and saw a 53 percent dip in its gross (Thanos would approve), with $28.6m, but it’s still showing in over 4000 theatres and it’s made $595m domestic in one month so don’t feel too sorry for it. Thanks to a $1.72bn worldwide gross, the film is now the 3rd largest international release ever, behind the James Cameron double act of might, Titanic and Avatar.

Book Club, new from Paramount, debuted at number 3 with $12.5m, which was what the studio expected. With 80% of its audiences women, and 60% of them over the age of 50, it’s a lovely reminder that hey, studios should make more films for women who aren’t 25 and hanging off the arm of some dude with a gun. I still wish the book choice of said club wasn’t Fifty Shades of Grey. I could recommend some really dirty shit to those women!

Things don’t look too good for Life of the Party, which fell to number 4 with $7.725m. Usually, Melissa McCarthy can be easily relied on to bring in the audiences for her original comedies, but this one saw a dramatic 56% slump in its second week, bringing its domestic total to only $31m. By comparison, Gabrielle Union’s Breaking In saw a 63% drop and has made $28m domestically, but that one only cost $6m so it’s easily a hit. Here’s hoping people turn out for McCarthy’s dirty sexy puppet noir.

Nobody expected Show Dogs to do well. I think most of us refused to believe it was even a real movie. Will Arnett’s presence just reinforced my theory that the movie was an extended promotional gag for the next season of BoJack Horseman. It made $6m from 3212 locations, making it one of the worst openings ever for a film debuting in over 3000 theatres.

In the world of limited releases, we had the documentary Pope Francis - A Man of His Word, directed by the legendary Wim Wenders. From 346 locations, that grossed $480,000, although the top documentary of the week remains RBG ($1.28m from 375 locations). The re-release of 2001: A Space Odyssey brought in $200,000 from 4 locations, which is pretty damn amazing. In fairness, that is a film you really have to see on the biggest screen possible. If you don’t, then Christopher Nolan comes to stare scornfully at you in your sleep. Paul Schrader has a new film out, released by A24. First Reformed gave the legendary screenwriter of Taxi Driver and director on one of my favourite films ever, Cat People, some of his best reviews in years. Audiences liked it too, with a $100k gross from 4 locations. Fresh from her 3rd Oscar nomination, Saoirse Ronan opened up her latest film, On Chesil Beach, to $9141.

Next week sees the release of Solo: A Star Wars Story, a drama based on the life of Mary Shelley, a documentary about fashion legend André Leon Talley, and the amazingly titled The Misandrists.

You can check out the rest of the weekend box office here.

What films did you watch this weekend? Let us know in the comments.