Easily remaining at #1, Fox's record-smashing Deadpool did lose a lot of steam, as expected. The R-rated superhero flick was down 59% from last weekend to $55 million, for a still-fabulous $235.4 million gross in 10 days, passing the final gross of all X-Men films in the process (X-Men: Days of Future Past finished its domestic run at $235 million). Deadpool did have a better second weekend hold than Days of Future Past, which fell 64% in its second weekend. And typically, 55-60% drops is about what is expected out of superhero movies in general. But, considering the strong word-of-mouth, this may be more of a sign of fanboys rushing out opening weekend instead of this being more of a movie audiences find over time. Deadpool won't have any major competition in the next few weeks, so it could still very well find some later-in-the-game stability. But, I doubt Fox is complaining.
At its current rate, Deadpool is on track for a final domestic gross in the $350 million range, or ahead of the first Iron Man and all the X-Men movies (not adjusted for inflation, of course), and without any 3D or IMAX boosting it up! Talk about impressive. Overseas, Deadpool added another $85 million from majority of the world, boosting its worldwide tally to just under $500 million in just 2 weeks. Japan is the only territory left to open (China will not have the film due to explicit content), and it will not open until June. Deadpool will now likely earn at least $700 million worldwide, giving it a strong chance at passing The Matrix Reloaded ($742 million) at becoming the highest-grossing R-rated film of all-time worldwide.
Holding the second spot for Fox also was Kung Fu Panda 3, which continues to hold well. The animated threequel fell 37% from last weekend to $12.5 million, for a solid, if unspectacular $117.1 million gross in 24 days. That's the highest-grossing fourth weekend the franchise has had so far, as the first Kung Fu Panda earned $11.7 million in its fourth frame, while Kung Fu Panda 2 earned $9 million (but had $143 million through the same point). Panda has one more weekend with families before Disney's wildly-anticipated Zootopia arrives. Overseas, it's at $175 million in just seven territories released so far ($137 million from China).
Meanwhile, opening in third place with very good results was the Biblical epic Risen. The first of four major faith-based movies opening in the next six weeks pulled in $11.8 million, for a decent $4,048 per-venue average. Sony (and Affirm Films) released this in 2,915 locations, a very wide count for a faith-based film (usually they release in just over 1,000). Risen had the sixth-biggest start to date for a Christian movie, behind The Passion of the Christ, the three Narnia movies and fellow Sony flick Heaven is for Real ($22.5 million), and opened in line with last year's surprise hit (also from Sony) War Room ($11.4 million). This debut continues to show Sony's success in the Christian genre. Risen was projected by Sony to earn $6-8 million this weekend (given the soft buzz), and earned decent reviews (59% on Rotten Tomatoes, "A-" CinemaScore). This one will have two weekends until The Young Messiah aims for the same audience on March 11. The budget was $20 million.Opening in fourth place with decent numbers was horror flick The Witch. The critically-acclaimed spookfest took in $8.7 million, for a $4,245 per-venue average from 2,046 locations. Distributor A24 picked this up for just a little bit of money from the Sundance Film Festival, and reviews were strong (88% on Rotten Tomatoes). However, The Witch fell short of the numbers earned by The Boy ($11 million) and The Forest ($12.7 million) earned on their opening weekends. Also, in another case of critics being opposite the audiences, the CinemaScore was a "C-", only just below average for horror. Look for this to drop hard as usual for a horror flick, but considering the small budget, it will be a success. A24 was thinking $3-4 million would be a successful start.
How to Be Single followed with a 54% drop from its Valentine's Day-inflated opening. The Dakota Johnson-Rebel Wilson comedy earned $8.2 million, for an OK $31.8 million gross in 10 days, and should find its way to a final domestic gross close to or just north of $50 million. Overseas has pulled in another $25 million so far.
Meanwhile, the final new release, Jesse Owens biopic Race, came in under expectations. The sports drama pulled in $7.3 million in sixth place, for a quiet $3,071 per-venue average. Despite a decent marketing campaign, the Stephen Hopkins film just was unable to compete against Deadpool and Risen this weekend. African-Americans also didn't seem to help boost this film to strong numbers like they usually do with comedies (maybe this was too serious?). Race had decent, but not spectacular reviews (61% on Rotten Tomatoes), but an "A" CinemaScore, which could point to some legs in the coming weeks. The budget, however, was only $5 million (reportedly), so this one won't hurt distributor Focus Features very much if its ends up falling short of the black.
Thanks to negative word-of-mouth, Zoolander No. 2 was down 60% from its disappointing opening to $5.5 million, for a dreadful $23.7 million pick-up in 10 days. This one will continue to disappear quickly, and will probably finish under $35 million, with overseas only chipping in $15 million so far. On the opposite end of the spectrum, Star Wars: The Force Awakens continued to play in its 10th weekend. The biggest movie of all-time (unadjusted) domestically was off 38% to $3.84 million, for a massive $921.6 million pick-up in 70 days. The Force Awakens is starting to get to the end of its run overseas, with the worldwide gross climbing to $2.039 billion with just a little left in the tank.
Tying The Force Awakens for eighth place was The Revenant, which was off 42% to $3.8 million, for a strong $165.1 million pick-up since its limited start nine weeks ago. The Alejandro G. Inarritu flick has the Oscars to look forward to next weekend, where it could take Best Picture (it also is approaching $400 million worldwide). Hail, Caesar! rounded out the Top 10 in its third weekend, and took a plummet, down 59% to $2.6 million. The Coen Brothers' latest is at a mild $26.2 million pick-up in 17 days, and is just getting started overseas.
That's it for this weekend. Next week brings pricey 3D action flick Gods of Egypt, along with sports drama Eddie the Eagle and another action flick, Triple 9. Deadpool will stay firmly in the lead though, for one more weekend.
I will have a review up for The Finest Hours later this week.
