Weekend Box Office: DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE Stays on Top

(L-R): Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool/Wade Wilson and Hugh Jackman as Wolverine/Logan in 20th Century Studios/Marvel Studios' DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE. Photo by Jay Maidment. © 2024 20th Century Studios / © and ™ 2024 MARVEL.

1. Deadpool & Wolverine
Marvel Studios | Week 2
$97M Domestic Weekend
$395.6M Domestic Cume | $824M Global Cume

After a record-crushing $211M opening weekend, Marvel Studios’ Deadpool & Wolverine continues to carry the biggest stick at the box office, holding onto #1 with an estimated $97M domestic at 4,230 locations (+20) to take the title of 8th highest second weekend of all-time. That brings the R-rated superhero movie to a domestic cume of $395M, officially passing the first and second Deadpool movies ($363M/$318.4M) in only its second weekend. Outside of the MCU, it has also surpassed 2004’s The Passion of the Christ ($370.7M) as the highest R-rated earner of all time.

Looking to international markets, Deadpool & Wolverine‘s $110.5M earned this weekend outside of North America brings its global cume to $824.1M, thus passing Deadpool 2 ($786M) to become the highest-grossing X-Men movie ever. With this weekend’s performance, Disney becomes the first studio to cross the $3 billion threshold for 2024, doing so on the strength of only four new 2024 titles: Inside Out 2, Deadpool & Wolverine, Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, and The First Omen. IMAX screens posted a global estimate of $15M ($8M domestic) and a running WW cume of $64.5M. Here are the Top 5 international markets…

  • China – $45.2M
  • UK – $42.4M
  • Mexico – $32.8
  • Australia – $24.6M
  • Germany – $19.1M

This performance is right in line with the high-end of our prediction panel’s already high expectations., with a reasonable -54% drop from last week’s first frame. Here’s how that compares to previous Deadpool/Wolverine solo flicks…

  • Deadpool & Wolverine (2024) – $97M (-54% drop)
  • Deadpool (2016) – $56.4M (-57% drop)
  • Deadpool 2 (2018) – $43.4M (-65% drop)
  • Logan (2017) – $38.1M (-57% drop)
  • X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009) – $26.4M (-69% drop)
  • The Wolverine (2013) – $21.3M (-60% drop)

3. Trap
Warner Bros. | NEW
$15.6M Domestic Opening Weekend
$20M Global Cume

Writer/director M. Night Shyamalan is known for his high-concept original thrillers, but the filmmaker was unable to lure audiences in with his latest Trap, which saw Josh Hartnett as a dad taking his daughter to an arena pop concert that—as seen in the marketing—has been set up as a trap for a local serial killer (Hartnett). The self-funded/Warner Bros.-distributed chiller took in an estimated $15.6M on 3,181 screens for a $4,904 PSA in its opening bow, well below the low-end of our prediction panel’s forecast… so low that Twisters was able to hold onto its #2 spot with $22.65M for a $195.59M domestic cume.

The studio did not lift its embargo on reviews until late in the game, which had the effect of forestalling any positive buzz that it may have otherwise earned. Ultimately Trap got served with a 47% Rotten Tomatoes aggregate along with a 64% audience score and a “C+” CinemaScore.

Here’s how the 3-Day looked, dropping to almost half after opening day (the film had $2.2M in Thursday previews)…

  • Friday – $6.7M
  • Saturday – $5.1M
  • Sunday – $3.8M

In terms of the director’s post-After Earth films, which have all been self-financed, Trap is the second-worst performing after last year’s Knock at the Cabin (which opened on 462 more screens)…

  • Knock at the Cabin (2023) – $14.1M opening/$35.3M domestic
  • Trap (2024) – $15.6M opening
  • Old (2021) – $16.8M opening/$48.2M domestic
  • Glass (2019) – $40.3M opening/$111M domestic
  • Split (2017) – $40M opening/$138.1M domestic
  • The Visit (2015) – $25.4M opening/$65.2M domestic

The Top 5 locations for Trap were strictly coastal…

  • 1. AMC Burbank
  • 2. AMC Grove Los Angeles
  • 3. AMC Century City Los Angeles
  • 4. Alamo Drafthouse Brooklyn New York
  • 5. AMC Empire New York

Here’s how demographics looked…

  • 52% Caucasian
  • 25% Hispanic,
  • 12% African-American
  • 11% Asian/Native-American

Trap also failed to induce any real pull in 39 international markets where it took in $4.4M for a worldwide opening of $20M. Top 3 overseas markets were Germany ($792K), Australia ($621K), and Saudi Arabia ($340K).

While M. Night Shyamalan’s brand may be on the wane again, some of this may fall on the shoulders of casting Josh Hartnett in the lead. The early 2000s heartthrob from films like Pearl Harbor has had a resurgence in recent years thanks in part to Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer, but his name value may not have been enough to make audiences hustle to get to this one opening weekend, especially with word-of-mouth being mixed. Another recent serial killer thriller, Longlegs, had the benefit of a stronger 85% Certified Fresh critical rating and a word-of-mouth campaign which began with the film premiering at Los Angeles’s Beyond Fest over a month before its release. Longlegs currently sits at $66.9M domestic as of this weekend, while Trap will now likely tap out in the $30-$40M region a la Knock at the Cabin.

6. Harold and the Purple Crayon
Sony Pictures | NEW
$6M Domestic Opening Weekend
$9M Global Cume

Sony Pictures sees red on its balance sheet as its Harold and the Purple Crayon, an adaptation of Crockett Johnson’s 1955 children’s book, debuts to an estimated $6M in 3325 locations, putting at the bottom of the $6M – $10M range our forecasting team predicted. Blistering reviews (28% rotten on RT) couldn’t make the case for the film, and continued competition from week 5 of Despicable Me 4 and week 8 of Inside Out 2—both of which out-earned the new title—blocked its entry into the Top 5.

Harold‘s overseas rollout generated an additional $3M on 4,000+ screens in 32 markets for an estimated global cume of $9M. It should be noted that those numbers only represent 45% of the film’s eventual international footprint, with key upcoming market releases taking place in Brazil (Aug 22), Germany (Aug 22), Australia (Sep 12), Italy (Sep 12), France (Oct 16), Netherlands (Oct 17), and Spain (Nov 8).

With family movies like Despicable Me 4, Inside Out 2, The Garfield Movie, IF, and even last year’s Wonka performing quite strongly in 2024, why would a similarly kid-friendly title based on a beloved children’s book debut so low? While the book is a classic, as a piece of IP it is hardly fresh and lacks the evergreen popularity of a Dr. Seuss-type branding. A film adaptation of Harold and the Purple Crayon has been in development since the early 90’s, with filmmakers like Henry Selick and Spike Jonze hopping on and off the bandwagon. Pinning the campaign for the film around star Zachary Levi may also have hurt, since he has not had a hit since 2019’s Shazam! for DC.

The only real bright spot here is word-of-mouth among key demographics, with Harold earning an “A-” CinemaScore, 91% Rotten Tomatoes audience score, and 4-star PostTrak rating for kids—a possible indicator of solid holds going forward, especially since this is the only new original family film hitting theaters until late September.

Other Notable Performances

On Wednesday Despicable Me 4 managed to cross the $300M milestone at the domestic box office as it took the #4 spot. It remains the 4th highest grossing of the six movies in the franchise domestically, while globally it is the second-lowest grosser at $752.2M—with the gap still enormous between it and Minions: The Rise of Gru‘s $940.7M.

Sunday’s Studio Weekend Estimates | Weekend 31 – 2024
Total Domestic Estimates: $169,546,203M | (-1.9% vs 2023)

Title Weekend Estimate % Change Locations Location Change PSA Domestic Total Week Distributor
Deadpool & Wolverine $97,000,000   4,230   $22,931 $395,575,919 2 Disney
Twisters $22,650,000   4,009   $5,650 $195,585,650 3 Universal
Trap $15,600,000   3,181   $4,904 $15,600,000 1 Warner Bros.
Despicable Me 4 $11,250,000   3,376   $3,332 $313,970,170 5 Universal
Inside Out 2 $6,700,000   2,615   $2,562 $626,862,246 8 Disney
Harold and the Purple Crayon $6,000,000   3,325   $1,805 $6,000,000 1 Sony
Longlegs $4,140,000   2,150   $1,926 $66,940,811 4 Neon Rated
Quiet Place: Day One, A $1,400,000   1,039   $1,347 $137,401,020 6 Paramount
Daaru Na Peenda Hove $615,782   118   $5,218 $615,782 1
Rhythm Boyz Entertainment
Bad Boys: Ride or Die $600,000   437   $1,373 $192,916,713 9 Sony
BLACKPINK WORLD TOUR [BORN PINK] IN CINEMAS $580,282   300   $1,934 $1,084,731 1 Trafalgar Releasing
Kneecap $492,409   703   $700 $492,409 1 Sony Pictures Classics
      N/A          
Didi (??) $440,000   47   $9,362 $728,132 2 Focus Features
Fabulous Four, The $418,392   920   $455 $2,330,488 2 Bleecker Street
Fly Me to the Moon $350,000   420   $833 $20,013,869 4 Sony
CatVideoFest 2024 $281,220   106   $2,653 $281,220 1 Oscilloscope Pictures
Ponyo – Studio Ghibli Fest 2024 $236,412   1,374   $172 $236,412 1 Fathom Events
Sing Sing $172,925   18   $9,607 $534,690 4 A24
Successor $158,555   92   $1,723 $158,555 1 CMC Films
MaXXXine $140,614   70   $2,009 $14,990,077 5 A24
Widow Clicquot $125,000   97   $1,289 $618,784 3 Vertical
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes $119,000   30   $3,967 $171,064,380 13 20th Century Studios
Sound of Hope: The Story of Possum Trot $31,240   81   $386 $11,567,997 5 Angel Studios
War Game $15,289   1   $15,289 $15,289 1 Submarine Deluxe
Janet Planet $11,206   21   $534 $750,707 7 A24
Daddio $10,865   11   $988 $930,419 6 Sony Pictures Classics
Moving (4K Restoration) $7,012   1   $7,012 $7,012 1 Cinema Guild
(L-R): Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool/Wade Wilson and Hugh Jackman as Wolverine/Logan in 20th Century Studios/Marvel Studios' DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE. Photo by Jay Maidment. © 2024 20th Century Studios / © and ™ 2024 MARVEL.

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