A battle of celebrity spouses erupted at the box office this weekend as Sony Pictures’ “It Ends With Us,” starring Blake Lively, proved a formidable opponent to Walt Disney Co.’s “Deadpool & Wolverine,” starring her husband Ryan Reynolds.
“It Ends With Us” far exceeded initial expectations, debuting with $50 million in ticket sales in the U.S. and Canada after impressive pre-sale earnings, according to Sony estimates Sunday. The film had been projected to gross between $25 million and $35 million.
“Deadpool & Wolverine,” which last month scored the biggest domestic opening ever for an R-rated release, grossed $54.2 million in its third weekend for a domestic total of $494.3 million, according to Disney. Globally, the superhero blockbuster grossed an additional $112 million over the weekend, passing the $1 billion mark and becoming the only film other than “Inside Out 2” to reach that milestone this year.
Lively and Reynolds, who married in 2012, are also credited as producers on their respective films (as if their careers weren’t already intertwined enough, Lively has a cameo in “Deadpool & Wolverine” and Reynolds had a hand in writing a key scene in “It Ends With Us”).
Based on Colleen Hoover’s bestselling novel of the same name, “It Ends with Us” stars Lively, a flower shop owner who falls in love with an abusive neurosurgeon. The supporting cast includes Brandon Sklenar, Jenny Slate and Justin Baldoni, who also directed the film.
The romantic drama received a 59% positive rating on review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes and an A- grade from audiences surveyed by CinemaScore.
“'It Ends With Us' continues the tradition of 'women's movies' that were a staple of Hollywood filmmaking in the 1940s; Bette Davis could have starred in a version of it some 80 years ago,” wrote film critic Katie Walsh for Tribune News Service.
“But images of women also have to express a harsh reality that, unfortunately, is here confused, in a botched adaptation that is both too close and too far from its source.”
In third place at the box office, director Lee Isaac Chung’s “Twisters” closed its fourth weekend with $15 million, according to measurement firm Comscore. Driven in part by its epic action sequence, the Universal film has raised its domestic total to $222.3 million.
Eli Roth’s somewhat critically panned “Borderlands” grossed a disappointing $8.8 million in its opening for Lionsgate. It barely edged out “Despicable Me 4,” which finished in fifth place with $8 million in its sixth weekend. Universal’s animated hit has grossed $330.1 million in total domestically.
The only other top 10 debut was Neon’s “Cuckoo,” which finished the weekend in ninth place with $3 million.
Coming out next weekend are Disney’s “Alien: Romulus,” Falling Forward Films’ “Ryan's World the Movie: Titan Universe Adventure,” Roadside Attractions’ “My Penguin Friend” and IFC Films’ “Skincare.”
