Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively’s box office battle

The husband-and-wife duo took the top two spots with ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ and ‘It Ends With Us.’

Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively’s box office battle
Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman in Deadpool & Wolverine. / Marvel Studios

Hello! Welcome to The Box Office Report for the weekend of Aug. 9-11, 2024.

1. Deadpool & Wolverine

Weekend gross: $54.2M
Total domestic gross: $494.3M
Last weekend: 1st
Percent drop: 44

Another weekend, another No. 1 finish for Deadpool & Wolverine. As the latest MCU film crashed through the $1 billion worldwide mark, Deadpool & Wolverine did have some competition from It Ends With Us, though.

Yes, the husband-and-wife duo of Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively battled it out for box office supremacy this weekend, with Reynolds coming out on top by an estimated $4.2 million.

We’ll get to It Ends With Us in a second, but first let’s check in on the accolades that Deadpool & Wolverine have added to its haul since last weekend. The film was already the highest grossing rated-R film in domestic history, and now it’s less than $35 million away from passing Joker to claim that title on a worldwide scale, with Deadpool & Wolverine sitting at $1.03 billion to Joker’s $1.064 billion.

Deadpool & Wolverine’s $494.3 million domestic haul puts it at No. 6 among MCU films and No. 22 in domestic history. The film’s $1.3 billion worldwide haul puts it at No. 11 among MCU films and No. 48 in worldwide history.

While Deadpool & Wolverine should keep adding to its historic box office numbers, this will likely be its last weekend at No. 1, with Alien: Romulus hitting theaters this week.

Popculturology is a free newsletter fueled by my love of pop culture. If you’re already a subscriber, please consider becoming a supporter by upgrading your account.

You can also follow me on Twitter, Threads, Bluesky and Instagram.

2. It Ends With Us

Weekend gross: $50M
Total domestic gross: $50M
Last weekend: New release
Percent drop: NA

Blake Lively and It Ends With Us almost pulled off the upset. The adaptation of the Colleen Hoover novel exceeded expectations, debuting with an estimated $50 million.

This was by far Blake Lively’s biggest opening weekend, outdoing the $23.8 million that The Town opened with in 2010 and the $16.8 million that The Shallows opened with in 2016. It’s also a bounce back for the actress after The Rhythm Section debuted with $2.7 million a few years ago.