Another weekend, another $100-million-plus superhero opening: This time it was 20th Century Fox’s “Deadpool 2,” with an estimated $125 million take in North American theaters and a huge debut overseas, box office tracker Exhibitor Relations said on May 20, 2018. / AFP PHOTO / HECTOR RETAMAL
LOS ANGELES, United States (AFP) — Another weekend, another $100-million-plus superhero opening: This time it was 20th Century Fox’s “Deadpool 2,” with an estimated $125 million take in North American theaters and a huge debut overseas, box office tracker Exhibitor Relations said Sunday.
The Marvel Comics film netted $176 million abroad, the biggest foreign debut ever for an R-rated title, according to the Hollywood Reporter.
The movie features Ryan Reynolds playing the foul-mouthed and irreverent title character as he forms an X-Force team to protect a young mutant from the evil Cable (Josh Brolin).
For an uber-bad guy, Brolin is having a very good week. He also plays world-destroying villain Thanos in “Avengers: Infinity War,” which led North American ticket sales before “Deadpool” bumped it off.
Still packing a decent punch, “Avengers” — starring Robert Downey Jr., Benedict Cumberbatch, Scarlett Johansson and Chris Hemsworth — took in $28.7 million over the three-day weekend, pushing its global take past $1.8 billion.
Third in theaters was Paramount’s new rom-com “Book Club,” at $12.5 million. The film stars Jane Fonda, Diane Keaton, Candice Bergen and Mary Steenburgen as aging friends who decide to read the steamy “Fifty Shades of Grey” and find it, um, expanding their literary and personal horizons.
In fourth was “Life of the Party,” a Warner Bros. comedy, at $7.7 million. Melissa McCarthy, who co-wrote the script with director Ben Falcone, plays a newly divorced mother who returns to college, only to find herself in class with her (deeply embarrassed) daughter.
And in fifth was Universal’s thriller “Breaking In,” at $6.5 million. Review website Rotten Tomatoes dismissed the film as a “disposable action thriller” but praised Gabrielle Union’s performance as a mother trying to protect her children from hostage-takers.
A weekend surprise (see below) was Magnolia’s “RBG,” about US Supreme Court justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a feisty 85-year-old, with unusually strong ticket sales for a documentary.
Rounding out the top 10 were:
“Show Dogs” ($6 million)
“Overboard” ($4.7 million)
“A Quiet Place” ($4 million)
“Rampage” ($1.5 million)
“RBG” ($1.3 million)
© Agence France-Presse