New at BOP: Review: Matrix Resurrections Movie Review: Moonfall Movie Reviews: Scream The #1 Movie in America November Forecast The Many Saints of Newark October Forecast New Trivia Question All site updates Share & Save   Tweet Print this column

Hey, look at that, it's a Marvel film at the top of the box office. Deadpool 2 arrives with a bang, as we head into a big holiday weekend.

Marvel replaces itself at the top this weekend as Deadpool 2 is indeed the top film of the weekend with an estimated $125 million. That's a solid total, but down from the original's $132.4 million from February 2016. It did get off to a bigger start, with a Friday of $53.3 million ($18.6 million of that coming Thursday night), versus the first film's $47.3 million, but it faltered over Saturday and Sunday. Deadpool did also benefit from Valentine's Day falling on Sunday (hey, it had a romantic subplot!) on its opening weekend, which meant it stayed flat over Saturday to Sunday, boosting the opening weekend.

We're used to sequels not matching the opening weekend of the original, but when you move from February to the prime real estate that is the weekend before Memorial Day and can't expand the audience, that's a slight problem. There may also just be general superhero fatigue as the year has been dominated by both Black Panther and Infinity War (this is the 20th weekend of 2018 and a Marvel movie has been #1 for nine of them). Yes, we're headed into Memorial Day weekend which is one of the best weekends of the year, but there's also an A+-list release coming with Solo: A Star Wars story out next week. This points to Deadpool 2 having a considerably shorter shelf life than the first one, which finished with $363 million. It does give the franchise the #1 and #2 spots for biggest R-rated openings of all time, as Deadpool 2 squeaks just ahead of last year's It ($123.4 million)

Avengers: Infinity War gets bumped down to second place after three weekends at the top, adding another $28.6 million (down 54%) to its total and giving it $595 million in four weekends. Now firmly lodged as the eighth biggest film all-time domestically, it will cross $600 million midweek (Tuesday most likely) as it looks to get to the $650 million mark, if not with the holiday weekend, then the weekend after. It continues to be a ridiculous monster overseas, standing at $1.8 billion, fourth place all time.

Another new release is in third place as Book Club, a movie appealing to both older audiences and Fifty Shades of Grey fans, overperformed expectations with $12.5 million on the weekend. Starring Diane Keaton, Candice Bergen, Mary Steenburgen and Jane Fonda, the focus isn't exactly on the specific book, but rather the idea that old people can still, well, you know. A counterprogramming success (that only cost $10 million to make), I'm expecting an above average hold over the holiday weekend here, even with a suddenly crowded marketplace next week.

Melissa McCarthy's Life of the Party crumbles in its second weekend, dropping 57% from last weekend to $7.7 million, giving it $31 million to date. While that means it matches its production budget, it's headed to be one of her lowest earners in a lead role, throwing under her last collaboration with her husband, The Boss, which after two weekends had crossed $40 million and ended with $63 million. Her $100 million hits Identity Thief, The Heat and Spy feel so long ago now.

Breaking In fares worse than Life of the Party this weekend, earning $6.4 million (down 63% from last weekend) and giving it $28.7 million after two weekends. That decline is a little more appropriate for the genre, at least, but it only cost $6 million to make, so Universal is still pretty happy with this performance.

Our third new release this weekend is in sixth place as Show Dogs, a movie that everyone involved with looks/sounds like they did so unwillingly, earns $6 million. In a marketplace that's pretty devoid of films for younger audiences (not that that seemingly stopped people from bringing their kids to Deadpool 2; please stop doing that), that this wasn't able to do better is a big victory for quality. With Solo probably becoming the film of choice over the holiday weekend, Show Dogs will disappear rather quickly, with $20 million as a best case scenario.

After a good hold last weekend, Overboard takes a big hit this weekend, dropping 52% from last weekend to $4.7 million and giving it $36.9 million after three weekends in theaters. Looks like the added screens were the difference last weekend (it opened in 1,623, played in 2,000 last weekend, but is back down to 1,820 this week) and also contributed to the decline this weekend. I get the smaller screen count for this one given that Eugenio Derbez is much more famous in Spanish-speaking markets. It's still a win for Lionsgate, costing only $12 million to make.

With the departure of Black Panther after 13 weekends ($697.7 million, almost there), A Quiet Place is now the oldest film in the top ten adding $4 million in its seventh weekend and giving it $176.7 million to date. Not much more needs to be said here, it's easily one of the best box office stories of the year (non-Marvel division), as well as one of the most profitable.

Rampage may just fall short of $100 million domestically as it earns $1.5 million (down 57%) in its sixth weekend and stands at $92.4 million. It's earned $300 million overseas, though, so when there's a sequel in a couple years (Rampage: World Tour?), try not to act surprised.

Finally, in an extremely pleasant surprise, despite three new releases, the documentary RBG hangs onto tenth place with $1.2 million (up 8%) after expanding into 375 theaters. It's got $3.8 million after three weekends, and that's pretty nifty.

Your top 12 films this weekend earned $200.2 million, way up from last year when Alien: Covenant led the box office with $36.1 million.

Memorial Day weekend brings us Solo: A Star Wars story, bringing the franchise to the summer after dominating the last three Decembers.

Top Ten for Weekend of May 18-20, 2018
Rank	Film	Distributor	Estimated Gross ($)	Weekly Change	Cumulative Gross ($)
1	Deadpool 2	20th Century Fox	125.0	New	125.0
2	Avengers: Infinity War	Walt Disney	28.6	-54%	595.0
3	Book Club	Paramount	12.5	New	12.5
4	Life of the Party	Warner Bros.	7.7	-57%	31.0
5	Breaking In	Universal	6.4	-63%	28.7
6	Show Dogs	Global Road	6.0	New	6.0
7	Overboard	Lionsgate	4.7	-52%	36.9
8	A Quiet Place	Paramount	4.0	-37%	176.1
9	Rampage	Warner Bros.	1.5	-57%	92.4
10	RBG	Magnolia Pictures	1.2	+8%	3.8
Box office data supplied by Exhibitor Relations