“Deadpool 2” Delivers Biggest R-Rated Summer Debut

By Kip Mooney • On • In Weekend Box Office Report Weekend Box Office Report 0

BOX OFFICE REPORT

May 18-20, 2018

(estimates from BoxOfficeMojo.com)

TOP 5

Deadpool 2 $125.0 million
Avengers: Infinity War  $28.6 million
Book Club $12.5 million
Life of the Party $7.7 million
Breaking In $6.4 million

Deadpool 2 came in as the second-biggest movie of the summer (so far) with the second-biggest R-rated debut of all time, behind the first one. It's just a hair off what the surprise hit opened with back in February 2016, but more than enough to be the biggest R-rated debut of the summer. The foul-mouthed sequel upped the ante in every single way, with a bigger budget and a bigger cast. It couldn't quite manage that with its domestic opening. Still, the film has already made more than $300 million worldwide, and is the fifth-biggest movie of 2018 after only three days.

Avengers: Infinity War released its stranglehold and dropped to second. But it hasn't yet crossed $600 million, and with increased competition, may barely get past the original film, and won't come close to Black Panther's near-$700 million gross. But it's still the biggest movie worldwide, and has a shot at being one of only four films to pass $2 billion.

Book Club opened at No. 3 with a respectable $12.5 million. That's the best film debut any of these women have had in a very long time. Still, it's bound to be a sleeper hit, since its target audience isn't one that cares about getting to a movie opening weekend. It should hold extremely well going into the long Memorial Day Weekend. Life of the Party fell a steep 56 percent, so this will likely end up being Melissa McCarthy's lowest-grossing starring role to date. Breaking In dropped even further, but it's already tripled its budget.

Outside the top 5:

  • This Weekend's Indie Champ: It's a 50-year-old film. That's right, Christopher Nolan's "unrestored" 70mm print of 2001: A Space Odyssey dazzled audiences in just four theaters, bringing in a whopping $50,000 on each one.
  • Show Dogs didn't even place. The undercover dog show movie (yes, really) opened in sixth place with just $6 million.
  • With its seventh straight weekend in the Top 10, A Quiet Place is now the biggest horror movie of the decade not named It. Pretty impressive for a guy known for his comedic work who had never made a horror movie before. (Which of course is what we said last year for Get Out.)

Next weekend:

Solo: A Star Wars Story is here to silence all the naysayers. While it won't be on the level of Episodes VII or VIII, it should debut at or near where Rogue One did. I'll hedge my bets just a little and predict $160 million, with closer to $185 million over the four days.

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About Kip Mooney

Kip Mooney
Like many film critics born during and after the 1980s, my hero is Roger Ebert. The man was already the best critic in the nation when he won the Pulitzer in 1975, but his indomitable spirit during and after his recent battle with cancer keeps me coming back to read not only his reviews but his insightful commentary on the everyday. But enough about a guy you know a lot about. I knew I was going to be a film critic—some would say a snob—in middle school, when I had to voraciously defend my position that The Royal Tenenbaums was only a million times better than Adam Sandler’s remake of Mr. Deeds. From then on, I would seek out Wes Anderson’s films and avoid Sandler’s like the plague. Still, I like to think of myself as a populist, and I’ll be just as likely to see the next superhero movie as the next Sundance sensation. The thing I most deplore in a movie is laziness. I’d much rather see movies with big ambitions try and fail than movies with no ambitions succeed at simply existing. I’m also a big advocate of fun-bad movies like The Room and most of Nicolas Cage’s work. In the past, I’ve written for The Dallas Morning News and the North Texas Daily, which I edited for a semester. I also contributed to Dallas-based Pegasus News, which in the circle of life, is now part of The Dallas Morning News, where I got my big break in 2007. Eventually, I’d love to write and talk about film full-time, but until that’s a viable career option, I work as an auditor for Wells Fargo. I hope to one day meet my hero, go to the Toronto International Film Festival, and compete on Jeopardy. Until then, I’m excited to share my love of film with you.

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