The romantic drama It Ends with Us has been playing in theaters for more than a month and is close to reaching major box office milestones, both domestically and internationally. The film exceeded expectations during its opening weekend last month, becoming a much-needed hit for late summer.
It gave its target audience a perfect alternative after Deadpool & Wolverine dominated theaters. Interestingly, both Deadpool & Wolverine star Ryan Reynolds and Blake Lively, are Hollywood’s most successful couple of the year.
With $144 million from domestic markets and an additional $180 million from international ones, It Ends with Us has now accumulated a global total of $325 million. Made with a reported budget of $25 million, the movie has turned out to be a huge success for Sony, especially when similar titles often go straight to streaming.
Based on Colleen Hoover’s bestselling novel, the film launched with a mix of high anticipation, celebrity buzz, and positive fan reactions.
Although the movie has received a modest 57% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, what truly stands out is its reception by audiences. It Ends with Us holds a remarkable 91% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, earning the platform’s newly introduced “verified hot” badge.
The film also received an A- CinemaScore from opening-day viewers, showing its lasting appeal at the box office. In her review, Isabella Soares from Collider called the film “an emotional and effective depiction of domestic violence and how to find the strength to overcome it.”
Can ‘It Ends with Us’ Reach $350 Million Worldwide?
While romantic dramas and comedies are now often seen as genres that belong to streaming platforms, female-driven films, especially those based on popular books, used to perform well in theaters before the pandemic. Last weekend, It Ends with Us surpassed the $307 million global total of The Fault in Our Stars.
It had already overtaken the lifetime earnings of similar movies like The Girl on the Train ($173 million), Where the Crawdads Sing ($145 million), and Crazy Rich Asians ($237 million).
Despite its impressive run, It Ends with Us is unlikely to match the box office success of Twilight (over $400 million worldwide) or Fifty Shades of Grey ($570 million worldwide).
Still from It Ends with Us (Credit: Sony Pictures Releasing)
The film’s release was originally scheduled for earlier this year, but it was pushed back to follow the release of Deadpool & Wolverine. This gave Lively the chance to promote it alongside Reynolds. Lively faced some criticism for downplaying the movie’s central theme of domestic abuse but later addressed this through an Instagram post.
Now in its second weekend of release, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice has continued to surprise everyone as it reached a big milestone at the global box office. The horror-comedy film, which is a sequel to Tim Burton’s classic 1988 movie Beetlejuice, had a great opening last week.
It maintained its strong performance during its second weekend, especially in the domestic box office. Beetlejuice Beetlejuice is on its way to becoming Burton’s most successful film in over a decade, and it recently helped him surpass the $4.5 billion mark in his career’s total box office earnings.
The film has earned $188 million in domestic markets and an additional $76 million from international audiences, bringing its global total to $264 million.
With a production budget of around $100 million, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice stars returning actors Michael Keaton, Winona Ryder, and Catherine O’Hara, along with new faces like Jenna Ortega, Justin Theroux, Monica Bellucci, and Willem Dafoe. By comparison, the original Beetlejuice earned about $75 million globally with a production cost of $15 million.
That original movie played a major role in launching Tim Burton’s career, and right after that, he directed Batman, which earned over $400 million worldwide.
Over the years, Burton has delivered several hit films such as Charlie and the Chocolate Factory ($475 million globally), and Alice in Wonderland, which remains his only movie to have earned more than $1 billion worldwide.
However, since Alice in Wonderland was released in 2010, Burton has faced a series of films that didn’t perform as well. Recently, he has found success with his work on the streaming series Wednesday, which became one of Netflix’s top hits.
Tim Burton’s Box Office Total Surpasses $4.5 Billion Globally
Beetlejuice Beetlejuice opened to positive reviews and has earned a solid 77% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with an audience score of 81%. On top of that, the movie holds a B+ rating from CinemaScore. In his review, Martin Tsai from Collider called it a “return to form” for Tim Burton.
This weekend, Beetlejuice Beetlejuice outperformed its competition, including Universal’s horror remake Speak No Evil, which debuted with only $11 million domestically, falling short by $40 million compared to Beetlejuice Beetlejuice’s second-weekend earnings.
Still from Beetlejuice Beetlejuice (Credit: Warner Bros. Pictures)
The movie also contributed to Warner Bros.’ streak of hits this year. Earlier in the year, the studio had back-to-back blockbusters such as Dune: Part Two, which earned $711 million worldwide, and Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, which made $568 million globally.
Despite this success, Warner Bros. faced a setback with Furiosa: A Mad Max Saga, which concluded its run with just over $170 million worldwide. You can catch Beetlejuice Beetlejuice in theaters now. Stay tuned to Otakukart for more updates.
