Weekend Box Office Report: ‘Deadpool’ Tops ‘Risen’ and ‘The Witch’
Deadpool ruled the box office for the second weekend in a row, following up its record-breaking opening with with a strong sophomore weekend that proved its initial success was no fluke. In fact, the three newcomers didn’t even stand a chance against this red-suited menace, as Risen, The Witch, and Race all found themselves punted further down the top 10.
Film | Weekend | Per Screen | ||
1 | Deadpool | $55,050,000 (-58.5) | $14,777 | $235,394,887 |
2 | Kung Fu Panda 3 | $12,500,000 (-36.7) | $3,625 | $117,104,584 |
3 | Risen | $11,800,000 | $4,048 | $11,500,000 |
4 | The Witch | $8,685,270 | $4,245 | $8,685,270 |
5 | How to Be Single | $8,220,000 (-54.0) | $2,449 | $31,763,633 |
6 | Race | $7,275,000 | $3,071 | $7,275,000 |
7 | Zoolander 2 | $5,500,000 (-60.3) | $1,609 | $23,718,011 |
8 | Star Wars: The Force Awakens | $3,836,000 (-37.7) | $2,371 | $921,642,295 |
9 | The Revenant | $3,800,000 (-41.8) | $1,960 | $165,116,550 |
10 | Hail, Caesar! | $2,640,000 (-58.7) | $1,530 | $26,153,145 |
Although Deadpool did take a big 58 percent drop, that’s fairly standard for a film with a huge opening. Even with that drop, it still made $55 million over the weekend, bringing its current domestic total to $235 million. And like that, Deadpool became the highest grossing X-Men movie in the history of the franchise, which is more than a little insane when you think about it. The R-rated, subversive comic book movie out-grossed all of the films starring Hugh Jackman’s Wolverine? In any case, Deadpool is staring down the barrel of $300 million at the very least, although it’s hard to say how far beyond that milestone it will go, especially with Batman v Superman waiting just around the corner.
In second place, Kung Fu Panda 3 continued to show a fair amount of resilience, generating $12 million for a $117 million total. It still won’t reach the box office heights of its predecessors, but $150 million looks likely at this point and that will be victory enough, especially when combined with the very strong international numbers.
And that brings us to third place and the first of the weekend’s new releases. Risen did solid business for a faith-based film, opening with $11 million. It won’t do the numbers of God’s Not Dead, but it seems to have found its audience just fine. It did manage to beat out the critically lauded horror movie The Witch, which opened with $8 million in fourth place. That’s not a great number, but it’s the biggest opening in the history of distributor A24 and the film didn’t cost too much to make or acquire. The big question right now is whether or not it’ll stick around long enough to pay for its marketing, which is always the big question that no one wants to talk about.
How to Be Single fell to fifth place with $8 million, bringing its total gross to a respectable $31 million. It’ll probably break even in the end. However, it did manage to beat out the weekend’s third newcomer, Race, which flopped with only $7 million in sixth place. You can blame the mixed reviews and the wishy-washy marketing for this one, which failed to make this movie into the event that its subject matter deserves.
The back half of the top 10 can best be described as “sleepy.” Zoolander 2 is still a gigantic bomb that probably won’t match the gross of its predecessor. Star Wars: The Force Awakens is looking to end its record-smashing run with around $930 million domestic, which is very impressive indeed (although it still won’t top Titanic worldwide). The Revenant will go into Oscars week with $165 million, making it the box office star of all the Best Picture nominees. And finally, Hail, Caesar! is about to limp out of theaters just shy of $30 million, which is a shame but not too surprising considering the mixed reactions it received.