Box Office: 'Deadpool' Closing In On $500 Million Worldwide, 'The Witch' Scores A24's Biggest Opening Ever

DeadpoolAfter an absolutely phenomenal opening weekend, the question then became about what kind of legs "Deadpool" would have. If its second weekend is any indication, 20th Century Fox‘s R-rated, snarky superhero is going to be around for a while yet.

Against a mostly weak field of newcomers, "Deadpool" easily earned $55 million at the box office. It brings the domestic haul to $235 million, more than any other ‘X-Men’ film ever, and with a global total of $491 million, it’s the second highest grossing ‘X-Men’ movie all time. The $747 million worldwide tally of "X-Men: Days Of Future Past" is still a long way off, and will be a hard target to hit. That film had nearly 70% of its ticket sales from international audiences (most blockbusters have about 60% or higher), where "Deadpool" is much lower at 52%. So while the numbers are undoubtedly impressive, its total box office success will be half reliant on the domestic market. That being said, there’s not much to hold it back from continuing to dominate over the next week or two.

READ MORE: ‘Deadpool’ Smashes Records On Way To $150 Million Opening Weekend

In terms of R-rated movies, "Deadpool," now in sixth place, is quickly racing to the top of the all time domestic list, with "The Hangover Part II" ($254 million), "The Hangover" ($277 million), and "The Matrix Reloaded" ($281 million) all within easy reach. But, we’ll have to wait and see if it can go the distance to reach the second place ranking of "American Sniper" ($350 million) or the the top spot held by "Passion Of The Christ" ($370 million). 

Among the new releases, Sony‘s faith-based drama "Risen" managed $11.8 million to take third place, despite not screening for most critics. Basically, they aimed at the core audience, knew they would show up, and they did, but it likely won’t play to moviegoers beyond that niche. Focus Features‘ Jesse Owens biopic "Race" limped into sixth place with $7.2 million, but the studio is likely hoping the strong A-grade Cinemascore will lead to some word of mouth to keep it going around the track.

However, the big story outside of "Deadpool" belongs to A24, who boldly put "The Witch" into wide release and saw their nifty marketing campaign pay off big, with the arty horror movie earning $8.6 million. It’s the studio’s best opening ever, and it will undoubtedly add even more to their cred as the place where original movies can find a big audience. That being said, the movie got a rather dismal C- Cinemascore, so the celebration may be short-lived, and it indicates the slow moving, atmospheric picture is not for everyone’s tastes.

READ MORE: Review: The Exquisite Holy Terror Of ‘The Witch’ Will Chill Your Bones And Haunt Your Soul

Meanwhile, Sony’s quick acquisition and release of "Kung Fu Hustle" director Stephen Chow‘s "The Mermaid" really worked out. The film has become China’s biggest box office hit ever since opening earlier this month, earning $382 million in the country. While it might’ve seemed odd for Sony to suddenly release the movie in North America this weekend, they were likely hoping to catch the wave (and avoid being bitten by piracy from DVD releases in other territories by releasing it later). And they did. On thirty-five screens, "The Mermaid" scored the biggest per-theater-average of all films in release with $28,571 for a total of $1 million. Not too bad for a movie that had virtually no marketing campaign. Clearly, Chow’s fans were keen.

1. “Deadpool” — $55 million ($235 mil.)
2. “Kung Fu Panda 3” — $12.5 million ($117.1 mil.)
3. “Risen” — $11.8 million
4. “The Witch” — $8.6 million
5. “How To Be Single” — $8.2 million ($31.7 mil.)
6. “Race” — $7.2 million
7. “Zoolander 2” — $5.5 million ($23.7 mil.)
8. “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” — $3.8 million ($921.6 mil.)
9. “The Revenant” — $3.8 million ($165.1 mil.)
10. “Hail, Caesar!” — $2.6 million ($26.1 ml.)