As a seasoned gamer and movie enthusiast with over two decades of experience under my belt, I must say that the box office scene in 2023-24 has been a rollercoaster ride like no other! Marvel Studios’ soft year had me scratching my head, but Shawn Levy’s Deadpool & Wolverine has brought some much-needed excitement back to the marketplace.
2023 saw an unusual shift in the movie-going experience as the traditionally successful Marvel Studios encountered a less-than-anticipated year. Films like Peyton Reed’s “Ant-Man and The Wasp: Quantumania” and Nia DaCosta’s “The Marvels” didn’t perform as well as predicted, setting the tone for 2024 which seemed to echo these results. This was largely due to ongoing labor disputes in Hollywood that caused several Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) projects to postpone their premieres until 2025.
Over the last seven days, Shawn Levy’s “Deadpool & Wolverine” has managed to reintroduce a sense of regularity to the market, maintaining its position as a dominant force at the box office.
Just as predicted, the R-rated superhero film continued its reign in cinemas over the past three days, holding onto the top position in the Top 10 charts. Two new entries challenged it: M. Night Shyamalan’s “Trap” and Carlos Saldanha’s “Harold and the Purple Crayon”. For a comprehensive look at the box office results, take a peek at the chart below, and let’s discuss its implications later on.
Deadpool & Wolverine Crosses $800 Million Worldwide Following A Solid Second Weekend
Initially, it’s important to mention that the movie starring Deadpool and Wolverine didn’t achieve its maximum potential during its second weekend. The sales dropped by about 54% from its opening weekend, which can be considered as decent but not exceptional. Furthermore, unlike Kelsey Mann’s Inside Out 2 in June, it did not manage to reach a nine-figure sophomore weekend.
Despite all discussions, the latest Marvel blockbuster has been dominating the big screen, showing strong signs of becoming the second box office sensation of 2024 worth a billion dollars.
As a gamer, I’m thrilled to share that my latest MCU adventure smashed its opening weekend with an impressive $211.4 million haul! To add to the excitement, it raked in another $97 million domestically since then. That means it’s currently sitting pretty with a total of $395.6 million from the US and Canada alone. To put things into perspective, it’s already outperformed Despicable Me 4, which had a two-and-a-half-week head start and is still holding strong in the Top 5. The only movie that’s earned more at home this year is Inside Out 2, with a massive $626.9 million so far, making it quite a challenge to catch up at this point!
It’s clear that what sets Deadpool & Wolverine apart in the box office and compared to other movies mentioned earlier is their mature rating. Unlike popular summer animated films that cater to audiences of all ages, this Marvel production is intended for adults only, meaning those under 17 need an accompanying adult to purchase tickets. One would think this restriction would limit its success, but surprisingly, it’s outperforming family-friendly movies.
Globally, the movie ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ is off to a fantastic start in cinemas worldwide, raking in an impressive $824.1 million within a week of release. This places it as the second highest-grossing film of the year so far, with Despicable Me 4 earning $752.2 million and Denis Villeneuve’s ‘Dune: Part Two’ wrapping up its theater run with earnings of $710.5 million.
By the end of August, it is expected that “Inside Out 2” will have made history as one of only eight films released since cinemas reopened in 2021 to surpass $1 billion globally at the box office. This elite club, which also includes James Cameron’s “Avatar: The Way Of Water”, Jon Watt’s “Spider-Man: No Way Home”, Joseph Kosinski’s “Top Gun: Maverick”, Greta Gerwig’s “Barbie”, Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic’s “The Super Mario Bros. Movie” and Colin Trevorrow’s “Jurassic World: Dominion”, will see “Inside Out 2” as the first to achieve this feat with an R-rating.
It appears probable that this movie may eventually be recognized as the highest-grossing R-rated film ever, a title currently held by Todd Phillips’ Joker (earning $1.064 billion in 2019) and Deadpool & Wolverine will need to outperform Christopher Nolan’s Best Picture winner, Oppenheimer ($977 million in 2022), to claim that title.
M. Night Shyamalan’s Trap Has To Settle For Third Place Behind Deadpool & Wolverine And Twisters
Previously hinted, there was high anticipation that Deadpool & Wolverine would once again rule the box office. However, the uncertainty surrounding this weekend’s results mainly revolved around where new films like Trap and Harold and The Purple Crayon would rank in the Top 10. It seems that neither film performed exceptionally well, but Trap significantly outperformed Harold and The Purple Crayon.
With a reported budget of $30 million, the horror film “Trap” starring Josh Hartnett has earned $15.6 million in recent days, placing it third behind “Deadpool & Wolverine” and Lee Isaac Chung’s “Twisters”. This is roughly typical for M. Night Shyamalan at this stage of his career, as the 2021 release “Old” made $16.9 million during its opening weekend, and 2023’s “Knock At The Cabin” earned $14.1 million.
As a gamer, I’d say a silver medal for Trap would have been sweeter than bronze on my trophy shelf, but hey, things could always be worse! I’m talking about the film flopping as badly as Harold And The Purple Crayon did. Surprisingly, the new movie starring Zachary Levi, which is based on the same-named book, actually graced more screens (3,325 vs. 3,181) than Trap did. However, Trap managed to sell nearly three times as many tickets, and it ended up in sixth place with a total of $6 million, equating to a mere $1,805 per theater location.
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2024-08-04 22:07