Hello everyone,
BOX OFFICE: It was all about “Deadpool and Wolverine” this past weekend as the movie blew WAY past predictions and broke almost every record for an R rated movie. Biggest domestic opening day for an R rated movie with $96 million on Friday (6th biggest opening day overall), Biggest domestic opening weekend for an R rated movie with $211 million (also 6th overall), biggest domestic opening weekend in July EVER. It’s the biggest opening weekend since Dec 2021 when “Spider Man No Way Home” opened. It made about $40 million less than the COMBINED OPENING WEEKENDS of “Barbie” ($162 million) AND “Oppenheimer” ($82 million) around this time last year.
“Twisters” moved down almost 57% to #2 with almost $35 million, “Despicable Me 4” was #3 with approx. $14.5 million, and “Inside Out 2” was #4 with $8.6 million. That was enough to make “Inside Out 2” the biggest animated movie EVER at the domestic box office with $613 million. “Inside Out 2” is still #1 for 2024 but I expect “Deadpool and Wolverine” to pass it in a week or two. It’s already the #4 movie of the 2024 domestic box office.
Total domestic box office this past weekend was $284 million which is 90% higher than the total of last weekend. It didn’t quite beat the biggest domestic weekend of 2023 which was $310 million but it was about 10% higher than the same weekend last year which was $213 million on the 2nd weekend of “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer”.
WORLDWIDE BOX OFFICE: “Deadpool and Wolverine” also blew past worldwide predictions making $233 million in foreign countries and $444 million worldwide total which is another record for an R rated movie. The movie also propelled the Marvel franchise – already the biggest movie franchise in the world – to a worldwide total of OVER $30 BILLION (although the franchise also has the most movies – over 30 movies released). “Deadpool and Wolverine” is currently the #6 biggest movie of 2024 at the worldwide box office. The movie is the biggest worldwide opening weekend since “Avatar the Way of Water” at the end of 2022.
OTHER NEWS:
It looks like the union negotiations are finally complete – just 4 days before the current contract ended on July 31. They announced that the Teamsters reached a tentative agreement with the studios on Sat July 27.
The big news from the annual Comic Con convention in San Diego over this past weekend was that Robert Downey Jr is returning to the Marvel Cinematic Universe but NOT as Iron Man (at least, not at first). The next “Avengers” movies have been renamed “Avengers Doomsday” and Robert Downey Jr will be playing the evil Victor Von Doom. The movie has been changed since the actor Jonathan Majors is no longer with the Marvel Cinematic Universe (after he was found guilty of reckless assault and harassment.) Not sure how they’ll change the storyline since Kang has already appeared in the “Loki” TV series and the “Ant Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” movie. The next Avengers movie is currently scheduled to be released in May 2026.
At the same time, they announced that the directors of previous Marvel movies will also be returning. Joe and Anthony Russo, directors of the last 2 Captain America movies (“Captain America The Winter Soldier” and “Captain America: Civil War”) and the last 2 Avengers movies (“Avengers Infinity War” and “Avengers Endgame”) will be directing “Avengers Doomsday” in 2026 and “Avengers Secret Wars” scheduled for 2027.
If you saw “Deadpool and Wolverine” in a Dolby Cinema theater, you may have seen the advertisement that “Shaun of the Dead” will be remastered in Dolby Vision and re-released in Dolby Cinema screens for its 20th anniversary in 1 month on August 29.
LITTLE BIT OF HUMOR:
That’s head of Marvel Studios Kevin Feige and I’m sure you can guess the censored word. Also, I’m sure he was saying that previously with all the bad reviews of some of the previous Marvel movies, but now he can say it out loud….to promote some movies.
LOS ANGELES FILM REVIEW 