After a brief period that allowed another film to sell some tickets, “Deadpool & Wolverine” returned to the top of the box office charts in its fifth weekend in release. Marvel’s superhero adventure beat out (albeit meager) competition as two new films, “The Crow” and “Blink Twice,” failed to make the cut in their first two openings.
Zoe Kravitz’s twisted thriller “Blink Twice” led the new film chart but fell to fourth place with $7.3 million from 3,067 locations. Meanwhile, Lionsgate’s “The Crow,” starring Bill Skarsgård as a murdered musician who returns to avenge the deaths of his fiancée, failed to make $4.6 million from 2,752 locations to open in eighth place. Critics were more impressed with “Blink Twice” than “The Crow” — the former earned a 79% on Rotten Tomatoes and the latter a 20% “bad” — while audiences were mixed, with both films earning a “B-” CinemaScore. So it remains to be seen how the rumors will affect the rest of their theatrical runs.
“The Crow,” a wild reimagining of the 1994 graphic novel turned movie, cost $50 million to make. It’s Lionsgate’s second straight flop, after August’s “Borderlands,” which fell to No. 16 with $500,000 from 1,147 theaters in its third weekend. The $115 million video game adaptation, starring Cate Blanchett, Kevin Hart and Ariana Greenblatt, is one of the biggest flops of the year, taking in $15 million in North America and $23 million worldwide. In the case of “The Crow,” Lionsgate only distributed the film after acquiring the U.S. rights for about $10 million.
“Blink Twice” marks the directorial debut for Kravitz, who is known for her roles in the “Fantastic Beasts” franchise, Matt Reeves’ “The Batman” and Steven Soderbergh’s crime drama “Kimi.” The R-rated psychological thriller “Blink Twice” follows a tech billionaire (Channing Tatum, Kravitz’s fiancée) who invites a cocktail waitress (Naomi Ackie) to his private island for a lavish party where things start to take a sinister turn. “Blink Twice” reportedly had a budget of $20 million before reshoots, so it’s not exactly a disaster for its filmmaking career despite failing to make double digits in its debut. Amazon MGM is distributing the film in the United States while Warner Bros. is handling the theatrical release worldwide.
“This is a middling opening for an original crime thriller,” says David A. Gross, who runs the film consulting firm Franchise Entertainment Research. Still, he believes “Blink Twice” will benefit from its theatrical run. “It will raise the profile of the film in every secondary market it plays in, and ultimately bring it to a profitable level.”
“Deadpool & Wolverine” reclaimed the top spot with $18.3 million from 3,840 locations in its fifth frame, down just 39% from last weekend. The R-rated comic book sequel, starring Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman, has grossed $577.2 million in North America and $1.21 billion worldwide so far. It’s the second-highest-grossing film of the year behind Disney/Pixar’s “Inside Out 2” ($1.64 billion).
“Alien: Romulus,” which grossed $16.2 million last weekend, dropped to 3,915 theaters on its second day. That’s a 62 percent drop from its opening weekend. So far, the latest installment in the sci-fi horror franchise from Disney and 20th Century Fox has grossed $72.6 million domestically and $225 million worldwide.
“It Ends With Us” also took third place, ahead of “Blink Twice” and “The Crow.” The film, based on Colleen Hoover's novel, grossed $11.8 million from 3,839 theaters. After three weeks in release, “It Ends With Us” has grossed $120.8 million in North America and $210 million worldwide.
Biblical drama “The Forge” opened in fifth place with $6.6 million from 1,818 locations over the weekend. The faith-based film, backed by Affirm Films and released by Sony, was well received by audiences, who gave “The Forge” an “A+” CinemaScore. Directed by Alex Kendrick, the film follows an aimless high school graduate named Isaiah who gets a push to start making better life choices. The film cost $5 million to make.
More to come…
