Box Office: ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ Scores $97 Million in Massive Second Weekend

As a lifelong movie buff and someone who has seen more blockbusters than I care to count, I must say that the current state of the box office is nothing short of breathtaking. The success of “Deadpool & Wolverine” is simply mind-blowing, outperforming even the mighty Avengers themselves! It’s like watching a superhero movie in real life.


All hail Marvel Jesus.

In their latest adventure titled “Deadpool & Wolverine,” played by Ryan Reynolds (known for his witty dialogue as the self-proclaimed messiah) and Hugh Jackman, has once again ignited the box office, accumulating an impressive $97 million during its second week in theaters.

The second weekend of this film’s ticket sales, dropping only 53% from its initial record-breaking $211 million debut, places it as the 8th largest domestic box office second weekend ever. Only the blockbusters “Star Wars: The Force Awakens”, “Avengers: Endgame”, and “Infinity War”, “Black Panther”, “Jurassic World”, “The Avengers”, and this year’s “Inside Out 2” have seen bigger follow-up performances. “Deadpool & Wolverine” surpassed last year’s hit “Barbie”, which previously held the 8th spot with $93 million in its second weekend earnings.

To date, “Deadpool & Wolverine” has earned a staggering $395 million in North America and an impressive $824 million globally. This surpasses the earnings of the first two “Deadpool” films – with $783 million and $786 million respectively – within just two weekends since its release. Currently, it ranks as the second highest-grossing movie of 2024, trailing only “Inside Out 2” which has made a massive $1.555 billion worldwide.

As a movie reviewer, let me share my thoughts on this week’s box office battle. While Deadpool and Wolverine continue their reign, it was a tough weekend for newcomers. M. Night Shyamalan’s Trap, a chilling thriller featuring Josh Hartnett as a seemingly ordinary father with a dark secret, managed to secure the third spot, earning $15 million across 3,181 screens. On the other hand, Sony’s family-friendly flick, Harold and the Purple Crayon, unfortunately flopped, taking in a disappointing $6 million from 3,325 cinemas – a far cry from the success we hoped for.

In M. Night Shyamalan’s career, “Trap” represents one of his less intense openings. Compared to his last two films, 2023’s “Knock at the Cabin” and 2021’s “Old,” both started with relatively modest earnings of $14.1 million and $16.8 million respectively. While the enigma surrounding the beach in “Old” eventually led to a significant increase, earning $48 million domestically and $90 million worldwide, “Knock at the Cabin,” a suspenseful tale about a family being held captive while on vacation at a remote cabin, failed to reach similar heights, grossing only $35 million domestically and $54 million globally.

M. Night Shyamalan, renowned for directing “The Sixth Sense,” “Split,” and “Unbreakable,” chooses an unconventional route by self-funding his movies, with Warner Bros. assisting in distribution. The movie “Trap” carries a budget of approximately $30 million, so it needs to earn more than “Knock at the Cabin” but closer to the earnings of “Old” for its funding to be justified.

“David A. Gross, head of Franchise Entertainment Research, remarks that ‘Trap’ doesn’t meet the standard set by Shyamalan’s recent films. The international box office performance has been decent but not exceptional for this genre, and the film will rely heavily on strong performances in ancillary markets to achieve profitability.”

“In contrast to the well-established children’s movies ‘Despicable Me 4’ and ‘Inside Out 2’, which have been screening for over a month, the recently released movie ‘Harold and the Purple Crayon’, an adaptation from the popular book, found itself trailing behind on domestic box office charts. Despite this, Sony Pictures is optimistic about the film’s potential with family audiences during the summer season, given its $40 million production budget, featuring Zachary Levi.”

In its third week, the disaster epic “Twisters” from Universal took the second position on domestic box offices, earning $22 million. Starring Glen Powell, Daisy Edgar-Jones, and Anthony Ramos, this film has proven to be a powerful draw at the box office, amassing over $194 million domestically and approximately $250 million worldwide so far.

Due to numerous high-grossing movies, July managed to earn a staggering $1.2 billion in domestic income, marking the first month to surpass the billion-dollar mark since July 2023, when the nation was gripped by “Barbenheimer” mania. However, a series of recent blockbusters such as “Inside Out 2,” “Twisters,” “Despicable Me 4” and “Deadpool & Wolverine” failed to pull the domestic box office out of its ongoing downturn. As a result, North American earnings for 2024 are still trailing behind those of 2023 by 16.5%, as reported by Comscore.

“Senior Comscore analyst Paul Dergarabedian praises July, stating it was a blockbuster and surpassed $1 billion in domestic earnings. However, he predicts the upcoming weeks won’t be as powerful. He explains that the successful films from July will now need to support August as we approach the end of the summer movie season.”

More to come…

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2024-08-04 18:46