For the second straight weekend, DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE dominated the box office, adding another $97.0M to its record-setting total. After only 10 days in theatres, the Marvel blockbuster sequel has already captured the crown as the highest-grossing R-rated movie in the domestic market of all time, with a total of $395.6M and counting. In doing so, it has ended the 20-year reign of THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST in this spot, which earned $370.8M back in 2004.
With help from the opening weekend of TRAP, the total box office for all pictures this weekend was $170.0M, compared to last year’s $176.7M led by BARBIE’s $53.0M in its third weekend and the openings of MEG 2: THE TRENCH at $30.0M and TEENAGE MUTANT NINJA TURTLES: MUTANT MAYHEM with $28.0M.
Even though this weekend was slightly below the same weekend last year, DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE on its own bested the results of last year’s BARBENHEIMER duo, earning $97.0M compared to $82.1M for BARBIE and OPPENHEIMER combined. Exhibitors had been worried that this year’s fare might not match up against last year’s hit movies, which set box office records from late July through early August.
Remember that last year’s strikes caused the release of DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE to be delayed from May 3rd to July 26th. It’s hard to imagine that DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE’s opening could have been any better if it had opened earlier in the summer.
If anything, Disney and Marvel used the additional 2 ½ months to lean into their marketing and fully capitalize on its prime summertime spot. This is reminiscent of the positive effect DUNE 2 had on the first quarter after its release date was pushed back from November 3, 2023, to March 1, 2024.
DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE’s $97.0M dropped only 54%, a franchise-best, from its opening weekend. After 10 days, it has earned $395.6M domestic and $797.6M worldwide, already more than each of the previous DEADPOOL movies.
DEADPOOL FRANCHISE – BOX OFFICE RESULTS AFTER 10 DAYS
- DEADPOOL (2/12/2016) – Opening Domestic $132.4M, 10-Day Total $236.9M, 2nd Weekend Drop 57%, Total Domestic $363.1M, Budget $58M, RT Critics/Audience 85%/90%
- DEADPOOL 2 (5/18/2018) – Opening Domestic $125.5M, 10-Day Total $208.2M, 2nd Weekend Drop 65%, Total Domestic $324.6M, Budget $110M, RT Critics/Audience 84%/86%
- DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE (7/26/2024) – Opening Domestic $211.4M, 10-Day Total $395.6M, 2nd Weekend Drop 54%, Budget $200M, RT Critics/Audience 78%/96%
Even though the first two DEADPOOL movies did well, the box office for DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE after only 10 days is higher than that of the earlier films. It is always a good sign when a franchise raises the bar in subsequent chapters. The addition of Wolverine into the mix will provide benefits for many years to come.
TWISTERS held on to second place by adding $22.7M, a modest decline of 35%. Its 17-day total is $195.6M domestic and $267.6M worldwide. At this rate, TWISTERS may have difficulty reaching the $241.8M domestic earned by the original TWISTER in 1996. With a production budget of $155M, TWISTERS will need to make approximately $388M in worldwide sales to break even. While possible, this will only happen if it can string together another month of strong performances up through Labor Day weekend.
While the summer has been memorable for theatre owners, the Warner Bros. execs are not having as much fun. Their new film TRAP opened this weekend in third place, grossing $15.6M. It is the latest offering from director M. Night Shyamalan and continues his focus on the horror and suspense genre that made him famous, starting with the iconic THE SIXTH SENSE in 1999.
That movie remains his most successful, generating a massive $673M worldwide, equivalent to $1.3B in today’s dollars. Over Shyamalan’s career, he has directed 14 movies which have grossed $3.2B in total worldwide box office. The total budget for all those films was only $723M, amounting to a 4X multiple of the budget to the box office.
Within the industry, a rule-of-thumb calculation is a movie reaches profitability when its worldwide box office hits 2.5X its budget. This director’s most recent films have included some hits and misses.
MOST RECENT M. NIGHT SHYAMALAN-DIRECTED FILMS
- KNOCK AT THE CABIN (2/3/2023) – Opening Weekend $14.1M, Total Domestic $35.3M, Total Worldwide $54.8M, Budget $20M, RT Critics/Audience 67%/63%
- OLD (7/23/2021) – Opening Weekend $16.9M, Total Domestic $48.3M, Total Worldwide $90.1M, Budget $18M, RT Critics/Audience 50%/53%
- GLASS (1/18/2019) – Opening Weekend $40.3M, Total Domestic $111.1M, Total Worldwide $247.0M, Budget $20M, RT Critics/Audience 37%/66%
- SPLIT (1/20/2017) – Opening Weekend $40.0M, Total Domestic $138.3M, Total Worldwide $278.5M, Budget $9M, RT Critics/Audience 78%/79%
- THE VISIT (9/11/2015) – Opening Weekend $25.4M, Total Domestic $65.2M, Total Worldwide $98.5M, Budget $5M, RT Critics/Audience 68%/52%
- TRAP (8/2/2024) Opening Weekend $15.6M, Budget $30M, RT Critics/Audience 47%/63%
TRAP tells the story of a father and his teenage daughter who attend a pop concert only to realize that they have walked into a dark and sinister event. Unusually, the marketing for the film includes a trailer that makes it obvious who the trap is being set for, revealing a key plot element.
The film focuses on the trap itself, and whether an intended victim can escape its clutches. Shyamalan also wrote the screenplay, as is typical for the filmmaker. Josh Hartnett stars in his first outing since appearing in OPPENHEIMER as Ernest Lawrence, the inventor of the cyclotron.
The movie critics have not been impressed with the result, giving TRAP a lowly 46% score on Rotten Tomatoes. Audiences were slightly more entertained, giving it a 62% score. Having a tightly controlled production budget of only $30M, the film only needs to earn $75M in worldwide sales to be profitable and seems on track to reach that mark by next weekend.
Universal and Illumination’s DESPICABLE ME 4 finished fourth by bringing in $11.3M, a drop of 23 %. Its total after 33 days is $314.0M domestic and $710.4M worldwide. With a production budget of $100M, the film is riding a 7X multiple of worldwide box office to production budget, generating the sizeable profits that this franchise has become known for.
Disney and Pixar’s INSIDE OUT 2 finished in fifth place by adding $6.7M this weekend, a drop of 22%. With $626.9M to date, it has become the highest-grossing animated movie ever in the domestic market, passing the $608.6M earned by INCREDIBLES 2 in 2018. Globally, INSIDE OUT 2’s $1.548B worldwide total places it higher than FROZEN II which earned $1.454B in 2019 and 2020 but lower than THE LION KING remake which earned $1.663B in 2019.
WHERE ARE WE AS OF 8/1
After 30 weeks, the 2024 year-to-date box office is 81% of 2023 totals and 69% of 2019 totals at this same point in the year.