In a remarkable box-office showdown between Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively, the Hollywood power couple both ended the weekend as winners. Reynolds’ Marvel blockbuster “Deadpool & Wolverine” continued to dominate North American theaters for the third consecutive week, raking in $54.2 million according to studio estimates on Sunday. The film has now amassed over $1 billion globally. Hot on its heels was “It Ends With Us,” a romantic drama featuring Lively, which far exceeded expectations with an impressive $50 million opening.
This cinematic face-off became a family-friendly version of the “Barbenheimer” phenomenon, where two strikingly different films thrived due to strategic counterprogramming. However, this time, the competing films starred one of Hollywood’s most famous couples. This kind of box-office duel recalls the 1990 face-off when Bruce Willis’ “Die Hard 2” took the lead while Demi Moore’s “Ghost” came in second.
Not all releases fared well this weekend. The high-budget “Borderlands,” a long-awaited video game adaptation directed by Eli Roth, flopped spectacularly. The $120-million production featuring Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart, and Jack Black managed to pull in only $8.8 million. After facing significant delays and reshoots since its filming in 2021, the movie was seemingly doomed from the start, earning a dismal 10% on Rotten Tomatoes and likely heading for a spot among the year’s worst films.
Meanwhile, “Deadpool & Wolverine,” co-starring Hugh Jackman and directed by Shawn Levy, continued its record-breaking run. The film has become only the second R-rated movie to reach the $1 billion milestone, following 2019’s “Joker.” Its performance positions it as one of Marvel’s highest-grossing releases, second only to Disney’s other 2024 hit “Inside Out,” which grossed $1.6 billion globally.
Blake Lively also enjoys a role in “Deadpool & Wolverine,” but she takes the spotlight in “It Ends With Us,” a film she produced as well. Adapted from Colleen Hoover’s bestselling romance novel, Lively plays Lily Bloom, a Boston florist caught between two men—one from her present life, portrayed by Justin Baldoni, who also directed, and the other a former love, played by Brandon Sklenar.
“It Ends With Us” cost a relatively modest $25 million to produce, setting it up for a strong profit for co-financers Columbia Pictures and Wayfarer Studios. Like Sony’s successful “Where the Crawdads Sing,” this female-oriented book adaptation is expected to perform well through August’s typically slower box-office period, receiving an A- CinemaScore from audiences.
Reynolds and Lively subtly promoted the convergence of their movies. Notably, Reynolds posted a video where he humorously posed junket questions to Sklenar, a move that paid off as Lively’s film nearly doubled early opening-weekend forecasts.
Additionally, Neon’s “Cuckoo,” a horror film set in the German Alps and directed by Tilman Singer, debuted with $3 million from 1,503 screens and stars Hunter Schafer and Dan Stevens.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Comscore, were as follows: “Deadpool & Wolverine” led with $54.2 million, followed by “It Ends With Us” at $50 million. “Twisters” came in third with $15 million, while “Borderlands” brought in $8.8 million. “Despicable Me 4” earned $8 million, “Trap” grossed $6.7 million, “Inside Out 2” made $5 million, “Harold and the Purple Crayon” collected $3.1 million, “Cuckoo” garnered $3 million, and “Longlegs” rounded out the list with $2 million.
