Deadpool-obsessed box office doesn’t fall for M. Night Shyamalan’s Trap

Apparently, “superhero fatigue” was just wishful thinking on the part of exhausted film critics looking for someplace to direct their boredom. Despite getting a commendable C+ rating from The A.V. Club, Deadpool & Wolverine has continued its streak of box office returns experts have deemed “boffo.” Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman topped the box office this weekend with another $97 million, cashing in on their long-running friendship advertorial campaign. Making fools of those saying, “What’s missing from the box office are original stories with jokes that have nothing to do with Cinematic Universes or what actors did or did not get to play Gambit, Deadpool & Wolverine’s second weekend is the eighth highest second weekend ever, per Variety. The third Deadpool and 14th Wolverine, which rejiggered Across The Spider-Verse’s “canon events” as “anchor beings,” has made more than $824 million worldwide. That total becomes all the more impressive when one considers that Reddit is a free website filled with many of the same jokes.

Elsewhere in the top five, audiences did not fall for the trap of an original movie. Twisters came in second, sucking up another $22 million, emboldening legacy sequels everywhere. The only film in the top five not based on a pre-existing I.P. (unless one considers the director an existing franchise), M. Night Shyamalan’s Trap nabbed $15 million. Unlike Deadpool & Wolverine and Twisters, Trap did not cost $200 million and was self-financed by Shyamalan, so Trap’s $30 million will be recouped in the next few weeks. However, Trap was a touch more expensive than his last two, Knock At The Cabin and Old. Sadly, Trap also has a juicier premise than either, but we should never doubt the drawing power of a beach that makes you old or a cabin that makes you knock. After last summer’s Eras tour dominance, audiences just weren’t interested in a concert that makes you trapped.

Only two other new releases made the top 10, both more terrifying than anything the twisted minds of M. Night Shyamalan or Shawn Levy could ever conjure: A faith-based prison drama starring Kevin Sorbo and Cuba Gooding, Jr. and a live-action children’s book adaptation in which Zachary Levi wears a blue onesie. Lacking the Reynolds factor that made IF such a surprise hit, Harold And The Purple Crayon could not win audiences back following a months-long ad campaign that featured Levi wearing a onesie and doing his Shazam, “I’m a little boy in a big boy body” schtick. The movie brought in $6 million. As for the Epoch Times-produced Firing Squad, we can only assume the film got a slight bump from the South Carolina Supreme Court legalizing executions by firing squad, bringing its total to $1.6 million.

In the rest of the top 10, Despicable Me 4 and Inside Out 2 remained parents’ public air conditioners of choice for another week, coming in at four and five, respectively. At number seven was Nicolas Cage’s Marc Bolan-inspired creeper, Longlegs, adding another $4 million to its $66 million total. Neon’s highest-grosser ever is enjoying the box office run we’re sure A24 thought MaXXXine would have. Just behind The Firing Squad, A Quiet Place: Day One quietly made another $1.6 million for $137 million total.

[via The Numbers]