Blake Lively’s ‘It Ends With Us’ Just Beats Ryan Reynolds’ ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ at Friday Box Office

This is probably a fun weekend for Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively. The married actors have two films in a tighter-than-expected race for No. 1 at the box office this weekend, as Sony/Wayfarer’s “It Ends With Us” is giving Marvel Studios’ “Deadpool & Wolverine” a run for its money.

Reynolds’ historically successful “Deadpool & Wolverine” currently has the edge in its third weekend with an industry estimated $54.5 million, as it will likely be announced on Sunday that the R-rated MCU has joined “Joker” as the second film with that rating to reach $1 billion worldwide with $494 million coming from North America.

But right behind is Lively’s “It Ends With Us,” which is drawing in fans of Colleen Hoover’s dramatic novel — mostly women — to the tune of a $49.5 million opening weekend from 3,611 theaters. That includes a $24 million Friday that, even without the $7 million from Thursday previews, tops the $15.6 million that “Deadpool & Wolverine” earned.

Proving once again the value of producing films that women specifically want to see, “It Ends With Us” is set to be an immediate box office success with its $25 million budget before marketing costs.

The romantic drama starring Lively as a floral shop owner caught between a current and past relationship and grappling with the cycle of abuse got mixed reviews from critics with a 57% Rotten Tomatoes score, but has won over Hoover’s fans with an A- on CinemaScore and a 94% audience RT score. It will be interesting to see whether that word of mouth can expand to more casual moviegoers who haven’t read the film’s source material in the weeks to come.

The successful weekend for one of Hollywood’s top celeb couples and their filmmaking partners is somewhat overshadowing one of the biggest busts of the year with Lionsgate’s “Borderlands,” a film carrying a reported $110 million budget that is opening to a miserable $9.5 million opening from 3,125 theaters.

The only silver lining for Lionsgate is that, typical of its studio strategy, it has already recouped a significant portion of the film’s budget through international pre-sales. But that doesn’t change the fact that unlike “It Ends With Us,” Eli Roth’s adaptation of Gearbox Software’s hit video game franchise has not only been panned by critics but by gamers as well, earning an abysmal 10% Rotten Tomatoes score and D+ on CinemaScore.

Expect holdover totals to plummet in the coming weeks, particularly with 20th Century’s “Alien: Romulus” coming for the “Borderlands” core audience next weekend.

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