Overall business powered ahead of this same weekend last year by 65%, which featured the debut of Alien: Covenant on top of the box office.
As what many anticipated, it was all about Deadpool 2 this weekend at the box office. The (anti)hero sequel earned fantastic numbers, if on the low-end of some expectations (many pegged a $130-150 million launch). The sequel earned $125 million in its opening weekend (a huge $28,742 per-venue average on its opening weekend). That's just a hair behind the original Deadpool ($132 million) for its' three-day opening weekend, ranking as the second-biggest debut ever for an R-rated film (as well as distributor 20th Century Fox's second-biggest opening on record). However, unlike most sequels, holding onto 95% of opening weekend tallies is a rarity nowadays. Overseas, Deadpool 2 did even better, pulling in $176 million (a Fox record) for a worldwide launch of $301 million. As for competition, Solo: A Star Wars Story will steal some of its male audience. But, it's also Memorial Day Weekend, which means moviegoers will be out in droves, so the holiday might soften the overall blow. Reviews for the sequel were very good (83% on Rotten Tomatoes), while the CinemaScore was an "A". The budget was $110 million.
Deadpool 2 unseated another blockbuster superhero sequel, Avengers: Infinity War. The penultimate installment in the MCU, however, continued to pull in huge numbers. The superhero mash-up fell 54% in its fourth weekend to $28.7 million, for a huge $595 million pick-up in 24 days. That already ranks as the eighth-biggest movie of all-time domestically, and will pass $600 million in the next few days. As for holding power from here, Infinity War will have to deal with fellow Disney title Solo, but the holiday weekend will keep it from outright plunging. It will finish ahead of the original Avengers ($623 million). Whether or not it passes Black Panther ($697 million and counting) will depend on how it holds in June (at this point I doubt Disney is worried). Overseas, the film continues to roar. With another $84 million picked up, Infinity War is currently at $1.2 billion overseas, and $1.81 billion worldwide with still some juice left. At this point, it ranks fourth all-time. Right now, it looks like it probably will pass at least Star Wars: The Force Awakens ($2.068 billion) to take third place.
Opening in third place with better numbers than anticipated was female comedy Book Club, which managed a solid $12.5 million debut (mild $4,495 per-venue average). That's ahead of the $8-10 million that many were expecting. Chalk it up to a solid marketing campaign and a lack of options for older audiences as the reason why this one overperformed. The film received an "A-" CinemaScore in the face of mixed reviews (58% on Rotten Tomatoes). Older audiences tend to slowly come out to movies, so don't be surprised if this has strong legs over the coming weeks. The budget was only $10 million.
Last weekend's two openers, on the other hand, failed to maintain their momentum. Melissa McCarthy's latest, Life of the Party, fell 57% in its second weekend to $7.7 million. The PG-13 comedy has earned a mild $31 million in 10 days. Meanwhile, Breaking In plunged 63% in its sophomore frame to $6.5 million. The Universal release is at $28.8 million in 10 days. However, on the positive side, the budget here was only $6 million, so there isn't much concern for red ink here at this point.
Opening in sixth place with mediocre results was family film Show Dogs. The talking-animal flick only managed to earn $6 million in its debut (weak $1,879 per-venue average), on the very low end for its genre, and only a small fraction of Peter Rabbit's $25 million debut. Despite a solid marketing effort, the film never really generated a lot of excitement. It could hold decently over the holiday weekend before crashing shortly after. Dogs earned an "A-" CinemaScore, but had predominately negative reviews (26% on Rotten Tomatoes).
In its third frame, the Overboard remake fell 52% to $4.7 million. However, the Anna Faris comedy is in good shape with a solid $37 million pick-up in 17 days, on its way to just under $50 million. Holding the best out of all holdovers was A Quiet Place. John Krasinski's indie blockbuster was off just 37% in its seventh weekend to $4 million, for a huge $176.2 million pick-up in 49 days, and passing the final gross of another horror hit, Get Out ($176 million) today.
Rampage is starting to wind up its run, as the Dwayne Johnson flick was down 57% to $1.5 million in its sixth weekend. At $92.4 million in 42 days, the action flick isn't doing strong business per se (it does look way better overseas, with $400 million earned worldwide so far). Bollywood flick RBG remained in tenth place for the second-straight weekend, inching up 8% and expanding to 400 theaters. With $1.3 million made this weekend, the international release has earned $3.9 million since its limited debut 17 days ago.
And that's about it. Next weekend will bring the anticipated debut of the latest Star Wars film (Solo: A Star Wars Story), in what could be a record opening for a film debuting over Memorial Day Weekend. As always, we'll see. The predictions post will be coming Wednesday.
