(ANSA) – LOS ANGELES, AUGUST 11 – The North American box office faces a domestic battle this weekend, with Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively standing as rivals. Despite their real-life couple status, the two are pitted against each other at the cinema box offices.
Reynolds leads the charge with his latest Marvel Studios/Disney creation, Deadpool & Wolverine. After three weeks in theaters, the film remains in first place with $54.2 million in takings. Close behind is Lively with her new release, “It Ends With Us,” which debuted with $50 million in ticket sales.
Deadpool & Wolverine has already surpassed the billion-dollar mark in worldwide takings over the past three days. Notably, the 2019 Warner Bros. thriller Joker is the only other R-rated film to achieve this milestone.
Another new release this weekend is the drama “It Ends With Us,” based on Colleen Hoover’s novel and produced by Sony and Wayfarer Studios. Directed and starring Justin Baldoni, the film follows Lily (Lively) as she leaves her small town to pursue her dream of owning her own business in Boston. This marks the first time in August, a traditionally slow month, that two films have grossed $50 million in the same weekend, according to Variety.
In third place is Universal’s disaster thriller Twisters, which features Glen Powell and Daisy Edgar-Jones as two daring tornado chasers, earning $15 million in ticket sales.
Other new releases this weekend include Lionsgate’s Borderlands, which opened in fourth place with $8.8 million, and Universal’s animated film Despicable Me 4, which dropped one spot in its sixth weekend of release, earning $8 million.