Weekend Wrap-Up: Deadpool Remains Immortal pulling in $31.12 million

February 29, 2016

Deadpool

As anticipated, Deadpool easily won the weekend with $31.12 million. This was more than double its nearest competitor, Gods of Egypt, which earned $14.12 million. Unfortunately, those were the only two films that earned more than $10 million over the weekend. The overall box office was $112 million, which was 21% lower than last weekend. This was still 5.1% more than the same weekend last year, while 2016's year-to-date advantage crept up ever so slightly to 3.9% at $1.78 billion to $1.71 billion. Hopefully March can continue this pace.

Deadpool fell just 45% to $31.12 million over the weekend for a total of $285.25 million after three weeks of release. Its theater average remained high, but March releases will start to push it out of theaters. That said, with this weekend's result, $350 million in total becomes more likely that not.

Gods of Egypt earned second place with a surprisingly strong opening of $14.12 million. On the other hand, while this was on the very high end of expectations, it is still a disaster for a film that cost $140 million to make. Furthermore, its reviews are a disaster; even the audience score is below 50% positive. Short legs could result in the film earning less domestically than it cost to advertise. Its prospects internationally are better, but not by enough to really matter.

Kung Fu Panda 3 did a little better than expected, earning third place with $8.90 million over the weekend for a total of $128.35 million after a month of release. As I've said before, it is struggling compared to the previous releases in the franchise, but this is still great for this time of year. It wasn't that long ago that no film released in January earned more than $100 million in total. Even with direct competition opening this Friday, the film will match its production budget domestically and it is on pace to double it internationally. Unless the advertising budget was out of control, it will break even before it reaches the home market.

Risen was the only sophomore hit in the top five earning fourth place with $6.82 million over the weekend for a total of $22.52 million after two. It dropped just 42% over the weekend and Easter is coming up, so it could have long legs as a result. On the other hand, there is also direct faith-based competition opening in March and this film might fade before Easter arrives.

Triple 9 barely managed to earn a spot in the top five with $6.11 million over the weekend. Its reviews are 55% positive, which is fine for an action film. Additionally, it only cost $20 million to make, so it still has a shot at breaking even on the home market, eventually.

Eddie the Eagle showed once again that sports movies depend very heavily on the popularity of the sport in question. Ski-jumping just isn't popular enough to do more than $6.08 million during its opening weekend. Its reviews are good enough to suggest it could be a hit on the home market. It should do better internationally and might eventually break even.

The Witch arguably had the best result out of the three sophomore class films down just 42% to $5.07 million over the weekend for a ten-day total of $16.68 million. That's amazing for a horror film, especially one that cost less than $5 million to make. Race wasn't as good down 44% to $4.10 million over the weekend for a running tally of $13.69 million after two weeks of release.

- Gods of Egypt comparisons
- Triple 9 comparisons
- Eddie the Eagle comparisons

Filed under: Weekend Wrap-up, Deadpool, Kung Fu Panda 3, Gods of Egypt, Risen, Triple 9, Race, Zootopia, The Witch, Eddie the Eagle, Kung Fu Panda