The religious epic “Risen,” low-budget horror film “The Witch” and Jesse Owens biopic “Race” look to find their niche
“Deadpool” will take in around?$65 million at the domestic box office this weekend, industry analysts said.?That’s the same number they projected?for the opening of?Fox’s?violent, profane and hilarious?
Ryan Reynolds
?superhero sendup last weekend.
The
Tim Miller
-directed action movie based on the Marvel Comics character?more than doubled that figure, earning a stunning $135 million in three days and $150 million over the long Presidents Day weekend for Fox.
“We were flat wrong,” Exhibitor Relations senior analyst Jeff Bock told TheWrap. “But I don’t feel too bad about that, because even Fox didn’t realize what it had on its hands.” What the studio had turned out to be its biggest box-office opening ever, as well as the?biggest?ever for an R-rated movie, a February release and Presidents Day weekend.
Also Read:
Will 'Deadpool' Spawn More R-Rated Superhero Movies?
“What’s notable is that it blew right past all the ‘X-Men’ openings,” said Bock, referencing the studio’s potent mutant franchise whose eight films have taken in $3.3 billion in global grosses. “There’s not much doubt about who’s driving the bus at Fox now.”
That would be “Deadpool,” a character who appeared in 2009’s “X-Men Origins: Wolverine.”?There’s been no official confirmation of a sequel, though it’s only a formality given the film’s success.
Even the end credits of “Deadpool” feature the foul-mouthed antihero not only saying there?will?be a sequel, but hinting at its plot and offering up?
Mel Gibson
,
Dolph Lundgren
?and?
Keira Knightley
?as possibles for the cast.
“I’m not going to argue with Deadpool,” Chris Aronson, Fox’s domestic distribution president, told TheWrap Tuesday.
Also Read:
The 'Deadpool' Effect: 'Wolverine 3' Might Get R Rating
This original still has a long way to go, however. It took in nearly $20 million on Monday and may very well hold the top spot until March 4, when Disney rolls out the animated “Zootopia.” Fox?is adding about 100 locations this weekend and will have “Deadpool” in a market-high 3,732 theaters.
This weekend’s?new entries may not challenge “Deadpool,” but they?stand a good chance of making some money for their backers, providing they can find their audience.
Sony Pictures
The historical religious drama “Risen” is told?from the perspective of a fictional Roman centurion, a non-believer who is?assigned to investigate rumors of a risen Jewish messiah causing upheaval among the locals.
It’s tracking to open between $11 million and $15 million for Sony, which is more conservative in its projection and pins its hopes on the film playing through Easter on March 27.
Also Read:
Fox's 'The Passion' Finds Its Jesus, Casts 'Idol' Alum Chris Daughtry as Judas
It has a big-name cast and an impressive pedigree.
Joseph Fiennes
,
Tom Felton
, Peter Firth and Cliff Curtis star in?the film,?which is directed by Kevin Reynolds, who wrote the screenplay with Paul Aiello and Karen Janszen.
Reynolds is a veteran who wrote the popular 1980s movie “Red Dawn” and directed “Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves,” “Waterworld” and “The Count of Monte Cristo.” Steven Mirkovich, who won praise for his work on
Mel Gibson
‘s “The Passion of the Christ,” helped with the?editing.
It’s a Sony Affirm Films and LD Entertainment production, funded by LD Entertainment. Sony absorbed international and is thus in for about half of the $20 million production.
Mickey Liddell, Patrick Aiello and Pete Shilaimon are producers on?the movie,?which was executive produced by Robert Huberman and Scott Holroyd.
The PG-13 drama will be in roughly 2,800 theaters.
Also Read:
'The Witch' Review: Puritans Battle the Devil in a Genuinely Creepy Horror Triumph
A24
A24 envisioned “The Witch” as a digital/VOD/multiplatform play when it acquired the micro-budgeted horror film for $1 million after the 2015 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the Directing Award in the U.S. Dramatic category.
But on Friday, “The Witch” will debut in 1,800 theaters and be the widest opening ever for the distributor, which has employed a gradual platform rollout with its previous?films.
Also Read:
'The Witch' Review: Puritans Battle the Devil in a Genuinely Creepy Horror Triumph
“The Witch” will?be?the first A24 movie to open at $1 million or more, and will be well on the path to profitability if it can gross $3 million.
The early response to the R-rated chiller set in Puritan New England is what convinced A24 that the film had?the potential to score significantly. Written and directed by Robert Eggers, it stars Anya Taylor Joy, Ralph Ineson and Kate Dickie.
The critics are sold. It’s at 85 percent positive on Rotten Tomatoes.
Focus Features
“Race” is the true story of Jesse Owens and his bid to become the greatest track-and-field athlete in history. He’s thrust onto the world stage of the 1936 Olympics in Berlin, where he faces off against Adolf Hitler’s vision of Aryan supremacy.
Canadian
Stephan James
stars as the young American sprinter, after replacing
John Boyega,
who left to take the role in “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.” Directed by
Stephen Hopkins
and written by Joe Shrapnel and Anna Waterhouse, the film co-stars
Jason Sudeikis
,
Jeremy Irons
,
William Hurt
and Carice van Houten.
Also Read:
Focus Features Moves Up Jesse Owens Drama 'Race' to February 2016
“Race” is?the first big-screen portrayal of the record-setting athlete supported by the Owens family, the Jesse Owens Foundation and the Jesse Owens Trust.?
Solo Film and Trinity Race produced the film. Focus Features acquired U.S. rights for $5 million, and will have it in 2,369 theaters.
It will be interesting to see how it plays in Germany, where it opens on May 1 via SquareOne Entertainment.?
The Evolution of Ryan Reynolds: From Nickelodeon to 'Deadpool' (Photos)
-
1991:
Reynolds' career began with 'Hillside,' a Nickelodeon teen soap that aired in the States as 'Fifteen.' Consider it an angsty precursor to 'Degrassi.'
YTV
1996:
Those currently watching the miniseries reboot of 'The X-Files' might want to find the wacky third-season episode "Syzygy," which opens with Reynolds playing a poor sap who?gets hanged off the edge of a cliff by two murderous teen girls.
1996:
If you're looking for the birth of Reynolds' heartthrob image, look no further than the TV film pilot for 'Sabrina The Teenage Witch.' Reynolds plays Sabrina's hunky crush Seth, who sports a winning smile and a quintessentially ridiculous '90s haircut.
1998:
Reynolds' first lead role came in the ABC sitcom 'Two Guys, a Girl and a Pizza Place,' in which he played Michael "Berg" Bergen, a sort-of dopey grad student who works at a pizza joint while figuring out what he wants to do with his life.
2002:
Reynolds' deftness?as an aimless twentysomething earned him his first movie lead in "National Lampoon's Van Wilder," in which?he played the titular party boy slacker who is challenged to finally graduate from college and get on with his life.
2003:
Reynolds attended the MTV Movie Awards with Alanis Morissette. The couple announce their engagement the following year, before splitting in 2007. Morissette said her album "Flavors of Entanglement" was inspired by the breakup.
2004:
Reynolds shifted gears and made his first steps towards becoming a comic book/action film star in "Blade: Trinity." His performance as vampire hunter Hannibal King required dozens of hours of intense physical training.
2005:
Reynolds bolstered his rep as a beefcake star with his often-shirtless appearance in the remake of "The Amityville Horror."
2006: "
Smokin' Aces" was the first film in which Reynolds got a chance to perform alongside a top name in Hollywood. Here, he works with
Ray Liotta
as a pair of FBI agents assigned to protect a Vegas gangster who has made an immunity deal with the feds and is now being hunted by multiple assassins.
2009:
Reynolds made his first go-around as Deadpool in "X-Men Origins: Wolverine," but the timeline retooling?in "Days of Future Past" means that Reynolds' return to the role will give Deadpool a clean slate.
2009:
Reynolds as the quick-witted mercenary Wade Wilson before he transforms into Deadpool in "X-Men Origins: Wolverine."
2009:
Reynolds cemented his rep as a hunk with this revealing Entertainment Weekly cover.
2009:
Teaming with
Sandra Bullock
on the romantic comedy "The Proposal," Reynolds scored one of his biggest hits ($164 million domestically). And sets heart aflutter with this shirtless scene.
2010:
Reynolds attended the Tony Awards with his then wife,
Scarlett Johansson
, who won an award for her Broadway debut in "A View From the Bridge." The actor filed for divorce that December after just over two years of marriage.
2010:
Reynolds received high praise from critics at Sundance and a Goya Award nomination for his work as a hostage buried alive in the terrifying thriller "Buried."
2010:
Reynolds was named People's Sexiest Man Alive, and told the magazine he prefers to sleep in the nude "because if anyone breaks into your house, I can't think of anything more frightening than a naked 6'2" man coming at you."
2011:?
Reynolds got the chance to take center stage in a comic book film as Hal Jordan in "Green Lantern."
2011:?
But the DC Comics film was critically panned and largely ignored at the box office. Needless to say, no "Green Lantern" sequel is imminent.
2012:
Over the next three years, Reynolds starred alongside several Oscar winners, starting with
Denzel Washington
in "Safe House." Reynolds played a CIA agent assigned to guard an alleged turncoat played by Washington as the duo are hunted through the streets of Cape Town.
2012
: Reynold married his "Green Lantern" co-star
Blake Lively
in an intimate ceremony at Boone Hall Planation in Mount Pleasant, S.C., on Sept. 9.
2013:
The next dance with a top star wasn't as well received. In "R.I.P.D.," Reynolds starred alongside
Jeff Bridges
?as one of a pair of deceased lawmen who operate from the afterlife to stop the undead from attacking the living. The film was?slammed?as a hybrid rip-off of 'Ghostbusters' and 'Men in Black.'
2015:
Reynolds received?a better reception when he starred alongside
Helen Mirren
in the prestige flick "Woman in Gold." Reynolds played a fledgling lawyer called upon by an elderly Jewish refugee played by Mirren to help recover a family painting long ago?stolen by the Nazis.
2016:
And now Reynolds gets to play Deadpool in all his irreverent, smart-alecky glory. Prepare for infinite winks to the audience and a send-up of the superhero movie formula.
2016:
Reynolds, whose wife,
Blake Lively
, gave birth do a daughter named James in December 2014, was named People magazine's "Sexiest Dad Alive."
Previous
;
Next
1
of
25
The Canadian actor has evolved from goofy comic foil to beefcake action star