There was titanic struggle between good and evil this weekend at the US box office. But when the dust settled, a certain snarktastic Merc with a mouth came out on top and will now claim he's bigger than both Jesus and Satan. Yes, Deadpool unsurprisingly maintained its place at the top of the US box office with $55 million in its second weekend.
That is, coincidentally, the figure 20th Century Fox thought it might make in its first weekend, before the Ryan Reynolds-starring super-anti-hero lark nuked expectations and kicked off its box office run with an impressive $152.1 million across the four-day holiday weekend. Thanks to its ongoing success, the film has now sauntered past $200 million for a $235.3 million US total and $491.8 million globally, making it the most successful of the X-Men films. Look out Star Wars, he's coming for you! Not that J.J. Abrams and co. should really be worried, but it's still an impressive haul for what was considered a big risk.
And the newcomers couldn't even challenge Kung Fu Panda 3, which clung to second with a trained death grip, spending another week in that spot and earning $12.5 million for a $117.1 million total in the States.
Of the new arrivals, Biblical-adjacent mystery film Risen was the victor, landing third with $11.8 million. It conquered the forces of darkness as Robert Eggers' stylish, haunting and much-praised The Witch arrived fourth with $8.6 million. Still, given that the horror film's budget was reportedly around the $1 million mark, that's a fine start. Rounding out the top five we have rom com How To Be Single, which made $8.2 million.
Race, the Jesse Owens film, didn't exactly get off the mark well, opening in sixth place with $7.2 million, though like The Witch, that was also working from a relatively small budget. It remains to be seen if it can cling on in the charts.
Zoolander 2 fell from fourth to seventh with $3.8 million, and Star Wars: The Force Awakens slipped one place to eighth on $3.83 million. It's still nipping at the heels of $1 billion for its Stateside total, but may not quite make it before it leaves cinemas. Still, with more than $2 billion in the bank worldwide, no one is going to criticise it.
And to finish off the top 10, The Revenant dropped to ninth and $3.8 million (though it might jump up again if it wins several trophies at next week's Oscars), while Hail, Caesar! was 10th on the back of $2.6 million.