Box Office Round-Up ~ 8/14/24

By: [email protected] on

Leave it to Blake Lively to know how to give Ryan Reynolds a run for his money, as her new release It Ends With Us almost beat Deadpool & Wolverine for the top spot at the box office this past weekend. Based on the novel by Colleen Hoover, the romantic drama surpassed expectations with a debut of $50 million.

Romance plus melodrama plus adaptation of a bestseller usually leads to box office success (see Fifty Shades of Grey or Twilight or The Notebook or Crazy Rich Asians or…), but nearly unseating the now second-highest grossing movie of the year wasn’t necessarily in the cards. Thankfully for all involved, Colleen Hoover has already written a sequel novel.

And for the record, Deadpool & Wolverine grossed $53.7 million, passing the $1 billion mark worldwide. It will soon pass Joker as the most successful R-rated movie of all time, and is Marvel Studios’ first billion-dollar hit since Spider-Man: No Way Home back in 2021.

Twisters wrapped up its first month in theaters with $15 million, passing $220 million overall domestically. It’s settled in as the fifth highest grossing movie of the year. In fifth place, Despicable Me 4 added to its box office bounty with another $7.9 million for $330 million total in the U.S.

In between them was Borderlands, a movie that has seen a tumultuous journey to the big screen (par for the course for a video game adaptation, sadly). Directed by Eli Roth (Thanksgiving) and starring Cate Blanchett and Kevin Hart, the sci-fi actioner suffered from a long development process and reshoots (using another director), landing in theaters with a brutal 9% on Rotten Tomatoes and an $8.6 million debut. It’s a massive disappointment for Lionsgate, who probably once saw franchise possibilities in the long-running video game property.

1. Deadpool & Wolverine ($53.7 MM)
Director: Shawn Levy (WME)
Writers: Ryan Reynolds (WME), Rhett Reese (WME), Paul Wernick (WME), Zeb Wells (Verve), Shawn Levy (WME)
Cast: Ryan Reynolds (WME)
        Hugh Jackman (WME)
      Emma Corrin (Circle Management)

2.  It Ends With Us ($50 MM)
Director: Justin Baldoni (WME)
Writers: Christy Hall (CAA)
Cast: Blake Lively (WME)
        Justin Baldoni (WME)
        Jenny Slate (CAA)

3.  Twisters ($15 MM)
Director: Lee Isaac Chung (CAA)
Writers: Mark L. Smith (CAA), Joseph Kosinski (CAA)
Cast: Daisy Edgar-Jones (UTA)
        Glen Powell (CAA)
        Anthony Ramos (CAA)

4.  Borderlands ($8.6 MM)
Director: Eli Roth (WME)
Writers: Eli Roth (WME), Joe Abercrombie
Cast: Cate Blanchett (CAA)
        Kevin Hart (WME)
        Edgar Ramirez (CAA)

5.  Despicable Me 4 ($7.9 MM)
Director: Chris Renaud, Patrick Delage
Writers: Mike White (UTA), Ken Dario (Gersh)
Cast: Steve Carell (WME)
        Pierre Coffin
        Will Ferrell (UTA)

Source: Box Office Mojo, The Numbers