Box Office: ‘Deadpool 2’ Tops ‘Infinity War’ With $125-M US Open

$FOXA, $DIS, $VIA

Superheroes dominate the box office

Over is past weekend as Fox’s Deadpool 2 opened to $125-M domestically and $301-M globally after scoring the biggest foreign debut ever for an R-rated title.

Playing in 4,349 theaters in North America, the widest release in Fox history Deadpool 2, it earned $18.6-M in Thursday-evening previews, followed by $53-M Friday, the Top opening day for an R-rated pic, the sequel earned an A CinemaScore from audiences. The film skewed male (61%), while a pleasing 38% of ticket buyers were under the age of 25.

Deadpool 2 hit theaters as the Fox (NASDAQ:FOXA) film empire prepares for the Disney/21st Century Fox merger easily toppled Disney (NYSE:DIS) and Marvel’s superhero mashup Infinity War from the top spot.

Paramount’s, a unit of Viacom (NASDAQ:VIA) hit horror film A Quiet Place also made bank in China with an opening of nearly $18-M, bringing that movie’s global total to $296.5-M.

Thanks in large part to the strength of Deadpool 2 and Infinity War, domestic revenue was up a huge 64% over the same weekend last year.

Infinity War came in No. 2 over the weekend, followed by Paramount’s adult-skewing, female-fronted Book Club in 3rd place with $12.5-M from 2,781 theaters, slightly ahead of expectations.

The 3rd new nationwide offering of the weekend, Show Dogs came DOA. The family film opened in 6th place with $6-M from 3,145 cinemas.

Both Book Club and Show Dogs earned an A- CinemaScore.

Back in the Top 5 Melissa McCarthy’s Life of the Party fell a steep 57% in its 2nd frame to $7.7-M for a domestic total of $31+, and the Gabrielle Union thriller Breaking In fell even more in its 2nd outing, dipping 63% to $6.5-M for a 10-day total of $28.7-M.

New openings at the specialty box office

A24’s First Reformed, directed by Paul Schrader. The critically acclaimed film stars Ethan Hawke as a troubled pastor and Amanda Seyfried as a parishioner who comes to him for help.

Opening in 4 locations, First Reformed posted a solid per-screen average of roughly $25,067 upon grossing $100,270.

Days after its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival, Focus Features’ documentary Pope Francis — A Man of His Word debuted in 346 cinemas in select markets across the US, grossing $480,000 for a per-screen box office average of $1,369.

A 70mm cut of Stanley Kubrick’s 2001: A Space Odyssey scored the Top location average of any film in a special engagement in 4 theaters.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle’s royal wedding Saturday was a big draw on TV, a special viewing in theaters did not happen. According to early box office estimates, Fathom’s The Royal Wedding grossed roughly $54,000 from 194 theaters for an average of $278.

Have some fun see a movie this week.

  box, China, cinema, Deadpool, DIS, domestic, film, FOXA, markets, movie, office, theater, VIA, weekend

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Paul Ebeling

Paul A. Ebeling, polymath, excels in diverse fields of knowledge. Pattern Recognition Analyst in Equities, Commodities and Foreign Exchange and author of “The Red Roadmaster’s Technical Report” on the US Major Market Indices™, a highly regarded, weekly financial market letter, he is also a philosopher, issuing insights on a wide range of subjects to a following of over 250,000 cohorts. An international audience of opinion makers, business leaders, and global organizations recognizes Ebeling as an expert.

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