A battle of the celebrity spouses unfolded 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 husband Ryan Reynolds.
“It Ends With Us” surged way past early expectations, debuting with $50 million in ticket sales in the U.S. and Canada following an impressive pre-sale haul, according to Sunday estimates from Sony. The film had been projected to launch 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 brought in $112 million more over the weekend, pushing it past the $1-billion mark and making it the only other film besides “Inside Out 2” to reach that milestone this year.
Lively and Reynolds, who wed in 2012, are also credited as producers on their respective movies. (As if their rollouts weren’t already entwined enough, Lively makes a cameo in “Deadpool & Wolverine” and Reynolds had a hand in writing a key scene from “It Ends With Us.”)
Based on the bestselling Colleen Hoover novel of the same name, “It Ends with Us” stars Lively as 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 romance-drama received a middling 59% positive rating on review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes, and an A-minus from audiences polled by CinemaScore.
“‘It Ends With Us’ continues the tradition of ‘women’s pictures’ that were an essential part of Hollywood film production in the 1940s — Bette Davis could have starred in a version of this some 80 years ago,” wrote film critic Katie Walsh for Tribune News Service.
“But women’s pictures also have to express a stark reality that unfortunately gets muddled here, in a bungled adaptation that is at once too close and too far from its source.”
In the No. 3 box office spot, director Lee Isaac Chung’s “Twisters” closed its fourth weekend with $15 million, according to measurement firm Comscore. Powered partly by its epic action sequence, the Universal film has raised its domestic total to $222.3 million.
Eli Roth’s “Borderlands,” subject of some critical lashing, opened to a disappointing $8.8 million for Lionsgate. It barely edged out “Despicable Me 4,” which finished fifth with $8 million in its sixth weekend. Universal’s animated hit has reached $330.1 million in total domestic ticket sales.
The only other debut in the top 10 was Neon’s “Cuckoo,” which finished the weekend in ninth with $3 million.
Opening 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.”