Woman Bites Dog: ‘It Ends with Us’ Opens to $50 Million, ‘Borderlands’ a Disaster with $8.8 Million
Marvel’s “Deadpool & Wolverine” (Disney) is the #1 film for its third week with $54 million and $494 million domestic so far. That’s a headline story, but the bigger news is the adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s massive bestseller “It Ends with Us” (Sony). A romantic drama that deals with spousal abuse resonated with audiences worldwide, opening to an astounding $50 million in the U.S. and Canada.
Another title made the wrong kind of headlines. “Borderlands” (Lionsgate), based on a very popular 2009 game, debuted at only $8.8 million.
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A $25 million romantic drama squarely targeted for women outperformed a $115 million videogame adaptation by nearly 6x. Cinemascore for “It Ends” is A-; for “Borderlands,” D+.
Expectations for “It Ends” were modest, perhaps $50 million domestic after an opening in the mid-teens, but it’s now a contender for the month’s top film; its best competition arrives next week with “Alien: Romulus” (Disney). “Borderlands” was expected to outperform with around $60 million, but as previously mentioned, failed to do so and then some.
Last weekend, early shows for “It Ends” began to sell out. Even then, many suggested it could be front-loaded by Hoover’s mega-fans. Not so. Nor does this appear to be an American phenomenon with initial foreign results of $30 million, with most top markets still to open.
Let’s recap: A $25 million film with 84 percent female attendees grossed $50 million without the benefit of premium-screen ticket prices, or even strong reviews. On a day when the U.S. Women’s basketball team’s victory had millions cheering, when a female presidential candidate is drawing huge crowds, it might be part of a bigger picture.
With fewer screens and standard ticket prices, “It Ends” actually had a better per-theater average than “Deadpool.” Of course, the latter film is operating on another scale altogether: It’s about to cross $500 million domestic and is already over $1 billion worldwide. In its third weekend, the gross is $1 million better than “Barbie” at the same point last year and is $45 million ahead at the same point of its run.
Disney is battling itself for the year’s #1 film. Pixar’s “Inside Out” has reached $636 million and is #7 for the weekend. $660 million or so will be the number for “Deadpool” to beat.
The strength of current business is evident with decent holds for long-run successes. “Twisters” (Universal) at #3 was off only 34 percent, “Despicable Me 4” (Universal), concurrent to PVOD release down 30 percent, and “Inside Out 2” dropped 27 percent. All very impressive.
“Trap” (Warner Bros.) in its second weekend dropped 47 percent, standard or a bit better. But with less than $7 million, it dropped to #6. “Harold and the Purple Crayon” (Sony) fell 48 percent, eighth at $3.1 million.
Neon took ninth and tenth with two genre entries. Their low-budget opener “Cuckoo” is #9 with $3 million in 1,503 theaters, while their sleeper hit “Longlegs” holds on at #10, now at $71 million.
Total box office looks like around $159 million, a nice jump of 36 percent over last year. Year to date results remain steady at off 16 percent.
“Didi” (Focus) and “Sing Sing” (A24), two promising slow expansions backed by strong reviews, both continued decent showings. “Didi” expanded more quickly and added $650,000 in 200 theaters. “Sing Sing,” now in 39 theaters, did $227,000. (For comparison, “Didi” last weekend in 47 theaters did $452,000). Both will expand further next week.
Sundance and Cannes-playing “Good One,” the first release from Metrograph Pictures, had a promising debut with $30,000 in three New York/Los Angeles locations.
The Top 10
1. Deadpool & Wolverine (Disney) Week 3; Last weekend #1
$54,175,000 in (-44%) 4,330 (+100) theaters; PTA (per theater average): $12,512; Cumulative: $494,331,000
2. It Ends with Us (Sony) NEW – Cinemascore: A-; Metacritic: 54; Est. budget: $40 million
$50,000,000 in 3,611 theaters; PTA: $13,847; Cumulative: $50,000,000
3. Twisters (Universal) Week 4; Last weekend #2
$15,000,000 (-34%) in 3,664 (-345) theaters; PTA: $4,094; Cumulative: $222,270,000
4. Borderlands (Lionsgate) NEW – Cinemascore: D+; Metacritic: 27; Est. budget: $115 million
$8,800,000 in 3,125 theaters; PTA: $2,816; Cumulative: $8,800,000
5. Despicable Me 4 (Universal) Week 6; Last weekend #4; also on PVOD
$8,000,000 (-30%) in 3,009 (-367) theaters; PTA: $2,659; Cumulative: $313,130,000
6. Trap (Warner Bros.) Week 2; Last weekend #3
$6,725,000 (-47%) in 3,181 (no change) theaters; PTA: $2,114; Cumulative: $28,676,000
7. Inside Out 2 (Disney) Week 8; Last weekend #5
$4,956,000 (-27%) in 2,200 (-415) theaters; PTA: $2,253; Cumulative: $636,457,000
8. Harold and the Purple Crayon (Sony) Week 2; Last weekend #6
$3,100,000 (-48%) in 3,325 (no change) theaters; PTA: $932; Cumulative: $12,889,000
9. Cuckoo (Neon) NEW – Cinemascore: C+; Metacritic: 60; Est. budget: $7 million
$3,013,000 in 1,503 theaters; PTA: $2,004; Cumulative: $3,013,000
10. Longlegs (Neon) Week 5; Last weekend #7
$2,000,000 (-53%) in 2,150 (-582) theaters; PTA: $1,527; Cumulative: $71,252,000
Other specialized/independent titles
Films (limited, expansions of limited) are listed by week in release, starting with those opened this week; after the first three weeks, only films with grosses over $5,000 are listed. Metacritic scores and initial film festivals recorded when available.
Good One (Metrograph) NEW – Metacritic: 85; Festivals include: Sundance, New Directors/New Films, Cannes 2024
$30,013 in 3 theaters; PTA: $10,004
The Conversation (Rialto) REISSUE
$17,000 in 5 theaters; PTA: $3,400
Kneecap (Sony Pictures Classics) Week 2
$103,426 in 204 (-499) theaters; PTA: $507; Cumulative: $819,650
War Game (Submarine Deluxe) Week 2
$16,732 in 5 theaters; PTA: $3,346; Cumulative: $35,601
CatVideoFest 2024 Week 2
$102,230 in 55 (-51) theaters; PTA: $1,861; Cumulative: $428,561
Army of Shadows (Rialto) REISSUE Week 2
$9,200 in 1 theater; PTA: $9,200; Cumulative: $27,994
Didi (Focus) Week 3
$650,000 in 200 (+153) theaters; PTA: $3,250; Cumulative: $1,626,000
Widow Cliquot (Vertical) Week 4
$67,500 in 81 (-16) theaters; Cumulative: $771,954
Sing Sing (A24) Week 5
$226,965 in 39 (+21) theaters; PTA: $; Cumulative: $821,862
Daddio (Sony Pictures Classics) Week 7; also on PVOD
$7,103 in 10 (-1) theaters; Cumulative: $947,149
Janet Planet (A24) Week 8
$11,177 in 16 (-5) theaters; Cumulative: $774,451
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