With an estimated $31.5 million first place finish,Deadpool's domestic cume now stands at an estimated $285.6 million. Stacked against previous R-rated releases, only American Sniper and The Passion of the Christhave taken in more at the domestic box office and it will be interesting to see how close to Sniper's $350.1 millionDeadpool can get. Overseas the Merc with the Mouth added another $40+ million as the film's worldwide cume is now over $600 million.
When it comes to comic book adaptations, Deadpool will be leap-frogging Man of Steel ($291m) shortly for twelfth position on BoxOfficeMojo's comic book adaptation chart and will then be passing both Iron Man ($318.4m) and Iron Man 2 ($312.4m) with Guardians of the Galaxy ($333.1m) next on the list. No matter how much more it takes in, everything is gravy at this point for the $58 million budgeted release. Deadpool's impact will surely be felt in the years to come as studios begin to reconsider just how widespread their audience is when it comes to the superhero/comic book genre.
Coming in second, Lionsgate and Summit's Gods of Egypt brought in an estimated $14 million, which is either above or below expectations depending on how you look at it. Mojo was expecting a weekend closer to $12-13 million, while pre-weekend tracking suggested a $15 million weekend was likely. Either way, the $140 million budgeted feature, which is reportedly also carrying a $30 million marketing budget, isn't likely to be making up that money at the domestic box office. The Alex Proyas-directed feature did bring in an estimated $24.2 millioninternationally, for a $38+ million global debut, but with a budget of that size and a domestic run that could struggle to reach $35 million, there's a lot of ground to cover in the post-theatrical market.
In a battle for fifth place is where we find the weekend's other two new wide releases, Eddie the Eagle andTriple 9. Eddie currently holds the edge with an estimated $6.3 million opening, just ahead of Triple 9 at an estimated $6.1 million.
For Eddie the Eagle this weekend's results were, more-or-less, right on target. Budgeted at $23 million, the family-friendly feature starring Hugh Jackman and Kingsman's Taron Egerton was expected to make something in the range of $7 million. The film did score an "A" CinemaScore as it played to an audience that was 50/50 male to female, 75% of which were over the age of 25.
The big question that will be left floating in the wind is whether Fox, and even Universal with Race, would have been better off waiting to release these films closer to the 2016 Olympics later this year, where marketing tie-ins could have proven valuable. As it stands, both films will probably make around $19-22 million over the course of their domestic runs.
As for John Hillcoat's corrupt cop, heist thriller, the star-studded Triple 9 did not inspire audiences. Heading into the weekend it appeared Gods of Egypt could possibly falter enough for Triple 9 to pick up some steam over Saturday and Sunday if opening day audiences took to it. They didn't. In fact, while Gods of Egypt may have a 13% RottenTomatoes rating to Triple 9's 54%, opening day audiences gave a slight edge to the Gods.
Triple 9 scored a lackluster "C+" CinemaScore to Gods of Egypt's "B-". Neither of which are impressive, but heading into the weekend it seemed the roles would be reversed. Given this opening, Triple 9 is likely looking at a $15-17 million domestic run.
Other weekend highlights include another strong hold for Kung Fu Panda 3, which is now up to $128.4 million domestically with another sub-30% drop in its fifth weekend. Next weekend it will take a hit, however, as Disney'sZootopia arrives in theaters after an impressive international performance where it has brought in an estimated$81.4 million so far in its third weekend of release.
Sony's Risen dropped 40.7% for a second weekend in the top five, bringing in an estimated $7 million as its cume now climbs to $22.7 million in two weeks of release. Also in its sophomore session, A24's The Witch dipped only 43.1% for an estimated $5 million weekend as its cume now stands at $16.6 million.
This weekend also serves as the first weekend since its release 11 weeks ago that Star Wars: The Force Awakens has finished outside the top ten. Landing in eleventh position with an estimated $3 million weekend, the film has now crossed $925 million domestically.
Edging out Star Wars for that tenth slot was The Revenant with an estimated $3.8 million and a cume that now stands at an estimated $170.5 million. Taking that cume into consideration, The Revenant is heading into tonight's Oscars with a strong chance at scoring a Best Picture win. Should it win, it will be the ninth highest grossing Best Picture winner of all-time, though not for very long. By the end of next weekend it will pass Chicago ($170.6m), A Beautiful Mind ($170.7m) and most likely Rain Man ($172.8m), placing it in sixth position behind Dances with Wolves ($184.2m).
Releasing next weekend, along with the aforementioned Zootopia, Gerard Butler will get another chance at box office success on the heels of Gods of Egypt with the sequel London Has Fallen and Tina Fey will be arriving in 2,300+ theaters with Whiskey Tango Foxtrot.
For a complete look at this weekend's results click here and we'll have weekend actuals for you tomorrow afternoon.
Also, if you're interested in knowing a little more about how this evening's Oscar nominees performed at the box office we have a complete breakdown of their pre and post-nomination performances right here.
"Box Office"
1 Comment -
Aw, TFA dropped out of the top ten. I guess that's fine, but I really wanted it to take the top spot past Avatar.
Couldn't be happier for Deadpool, though.
February 29, 2016 12:21 PM