‘It Ends With Us’ dominates box office with $50M debut, while ‘Borderlands’ flops with $8.8M.
In a competitive weekend at the box office, two new releases faced off, but only one emerged as a clear winner. Colleen Hoover’s novel-turned-movie “It Ends With Us” made a powerful debut, while the video game adaptation “Borderlands” struggled to find its footing.
The film adaptation of Colleen Hoover’s best-selling 2016 novel “It Ends With Us” had a stellar opening weekend, raking in $50 million across 3,611 theaters. This marks a significant success for Sony Pictures, considering the movie’s modest $25 million production budget. Starring Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni, who also directed the film, “It Ends With Us” tells the emotional story of Lily Bloom, a small business owner caught in a complicated love triangle involving a charming but abusive neurosurgeon, Ryle, and her first love, Atlas.
The movie’s strong performance can be attributed to its loyal fan base and the star power of its cast. Despite mixed reviews from critics, audiences responded positively, earning the film an “A-” CinemaScore, which indicates strong word-of-mouth potential. David A. Gross of Franchise Entertainment Research noted that “pure romance” films typically don’t dominate the box office, but the combination of a popular story, a talented cast, and a compelling narrative has proven to be a winning formula for “It Ends With Us.”
While “It Ends With Us” had an impressive opening, it wasn’t enough to dethrone “Deadpool & Wolverine” from the top spot. The Marvel superhero film, starring Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman, pulled in another $55 million in its third weekend, bringing its domestic total to a staggering $494 million. The film has remained at the top of the box office for three consecutive weekends, demonstrating the enduring appeal of Marvel’s characters and the star-studded cast.
On the other end of the spectrum, Lionsgate’s “Borderlands” failed to live up to expectations, earning only $8.8 million from 3,125 theaters in its opening weekend. Directed by Eli Roth and featuring a high-profile cast including Cate Blanchett, Jack Black, and Jamie Lee Curtis, the film was expected to perform better, given its $115 million production budget. Unfortunately, poor reviews and a lackluster audience response contributed to its disappointing debut.
“Borderlands” currently holds a dismal 10% rating on Rotten Tomatoes and received a “D+” CinemaScore, making it one of the worst-reviewed films of the year. The movie, based on the popular video game series, follows Lilith (Blanchett), an infamous outlaw who returns to her home planet of Pandora to form an unlikely alliance in a quest to find the missing daughter of Atlas. Despite its potential as an action-comedy, the film failed to deliver the humor and excitement that audiences expected. Gross bluntly assessed the situation, stating, “It’s a total miss. If an action comedy is going to work, it has to be funny, and almost no one thinks this picture is.”
In other box office news, Universal’s “Twisters” continued to perform well, bringing in $15.4 million in its fourth weekend. The disaster film, a sequel to the 1996 hit “Twister,” has grossed $222 million domestically so far, proving that audiences still have an appetite for high-stakes, weather-related drama.
Meanwhile, Neon’s low-budget horror film “Cuckoo” debuted with $3 million from 1,503 theaters. The film, starring Hunter Schafer, follows a teenager who moves to the German Alps and encounters strange and unsettling events. With a production budget of just $7 million, “Cuckoo” is already on track to become a modest success.
Lastly, A24’s “Sing Sing,” a drama about the real-life Rehabilitation Through the Arts program at the Sing Sing maximum security prison, earned $226,965 from just 39 screens in its limited release. The film stars Colman Domingo, fresh off his recent Oscar nomination, and will gradually expand to more theaters throughout August.
As the summer box office heats up, all eyes will be on how these films perform in the coming weeks. “It Ends With Us” will likely continue to draw in fans of the book and romance enthusiasts, while “Borderlands” faces an uphill battle to recover from its rocky start. Meanwhile, “Deadpool & Wolverine” is poised to maintain its dominance, adding to Marvel’s already impressive box office track record.
