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Monday Mixer: 'Deadpool' gets even filthier in new red-band trailer

Posted Monday, December 28, 2015 at 4:16 PM Central

by John Couture

This is turning out to be the perfect storm of box office performance that we might never see again in our lifetime. It's not often that Christmas and New Year's both fall on Fridays. Well yeah, they would both fall on Friday in the same year, but with the whole leap year thing, there's no regular pattern.

Yes, there's a 6,5,6,11 year pattern, but again it's not the same as every seven years. The last Friday Christmas was in 2009 and before that 1998. Interestingly, 2009 was the year that Avatar debuted (on the same day that The Force Awakens did - December 18) on its way to the current record for highest domestic gross at the box office.

I say current because signs are starting to point to a new box office champion in a few weeks. The real interesting race still to be decided is how much. Right now, current trends are pointing right at that $800 million bullseye that Tim and I have taken sides on. I'm hoping for the over naturally and if need be, I'll go see The Force Awakens a few more times to get it over the number.

But, we are finally starting to see life return to other films at the box office. You could say that there's been another awakening and it has shaken me to my core.

Box Office 411

Another week, another half dozen box office records for The Force Awakens - at least. It's really ridiculous just how historic this run has been and it doesn't look like it's going to slow down anytime soon. The Force Awakens earned a whopping $153.5 million in its second weekend (also a new record) and has brought its domestic total up to $544.6 million.

To give you an idea of just how massive these numbers are, The Force Awakens now holds the record for the highest gross after 10 days. The Force Awakens absolutely obliterated Jurassic World's previous 10-day record of $402.8 million. And let's not forget that Jurassic World finished up OK as the second highest grossing film of all time, as of now.

If you are a more graphical person, then Buzzfeed has you covered. These graphs show just how impressive these numbers are in relation to the top-grossing films. Tim and I both agree that The Force Awakens will follow the same trajectory as Jurassic World, which as that one Buzzfeed graph points out, will put it right at our $800 million number.

Unlike last week, The Force Awakens wasn't the only story at the box office this week. Daddy's Home got a nice bump from the spillover crowd to the tune of $38.8 million. That far exceeded even the rosiest of predictions for the Will Ferrell/Mark Wahlberg vehicle. This is the fourth-highest opening for Will Ferrell and just a smidgen higher than the last Will Ferrell/Mark Wahlberg film The Other Guys.

Unlike Daddy's Home, The Other Guys opened in August, which was quite barren back then and quickly fell off to a total gross of $119.2 million. With basically no new releases this weekend and only the expansion of Quentin Tarantino's The Hateful Eight to contend with, Daddy's Home should fare much better in its second weekend and on.

Still, I wonder just how strong the legs will be for Daddy's Home. With little competition in the comedy genre, I can see it earning around $150 million before its time is up. This would be a great number for Daddy's Home and I think Paramount would be quite pleased with its performance.

The new David O. Russell film Joy earned $17.5 million which was in line with expectations despite less than glowing critical reviews. The Jennifer Lawrence/Bradley Cooper collaboration marks the third time in four years that the actors and director have delivered a film, but it looks like this one won't fare as well at the Oscars. A final tally of $55 million seems like a reasonable guess at this point and I'm sure Fox would take it.

Concussion and Point Break were the other newcomers this weekend and they earned $11 million and $10.2 million respectively, good enough for 6th and 8th place. Neither film will make it to $40 million and thankfully this will most likely end the idea of future Point Break films.

The Hateful Eight opened up early on a hundred 70mm screens and Tarantino should be pleased with its $4.5 million debut. The film should perform admirably when it expands this weekend and this weekend should be another huge one from top to bottom.

Quick Hitters

  • Finally, we have a Quick Hitters without a single The Force Awakens mention. Of course, it helps that there were only three quick hitters that I wanted to include.

    The first is a big one. Entertainment Weekly has the first look of Benedict Cumberbatch in his role as Doctor Strange. If you're a fan of staying true to the comics, then I think you'll love it.

  • This one is near and dear to my heart. According to Variety, Christopher Nolan's next film is going to be the true World War II story Dunkirk. The film will tell the legendary story of a mass evacuation of allied troops from the French city ahead of German troops, saving the lives of over 300,000 soldiers.

    Dunkirk will begin filming this May through July in the real life locales with a release date of July 21, 2017 being targeted.

  • Finally today, if there's one film in 2016 that I'm most intrigued by, it has to be Deadpool. I'm not exactly sure if it will be a good film or not, but Ryan Reynolds is just the right asshole to play the part and it seems like Fox is allowing them to do the character proud by making the film as R rated as possible.

    Case in point, the new red-band trailer that dropped on Christmas like the world's best Dirty Santa present. Enjoy!

No wire Mixers, ever!