'Deadpool' leads again as N.American box office closes summer strong

"Deadpool & Wolverine" led the North American box office again this weekend, taking in an estimated $15.2 million and helping boost domestic August totals well above pre-pandemic levels for a strong summer finish, analysts said Sunday.

The superhero comedy from Disney and Marvel has led domestic ticket sales nearly every weekend since its release six weeks ago, partly on the draw of popular stars (and pals) Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman.

Its domestic total now stands at $603.8 million -- making it only the 16th film to surpass the $600 million mark, 11 of them produced by Walt Disney Studios, industry watcher Exhibitor Relations reported.

Sci-fi horror film "Alien: Romulus," from Disney-owned 20th Century Studios, tallied a solid score of $9.3 million in its third weekend to place second for the Friday-through-Sunday period.

Set decades after the original "Alien," the franchise's latest entry stars Cailee Spaeny and David Jonsson as space colonists who have their own encounter with deadly xenomorphs.

Sony's "It Ends With Us," a romance drama based on the popular Colleen Hoover novel of the same name, had $7.4 million in ticket sales to place third over the traditionally quiet US Labor Day weekend. Blake Lively stars and co-produced the film.

"Reagan," a biopic about the 40th US president from ShowBiz Direct and MJM Entertainment, took in $7.4 million, a "good domestic opening for a political biography," said analyst David A. Gross, as approving audiences ignored tepid reviews.

Arriving by design as the race to be the 47th president rapidly heats up, the film -- based on Paul Kengor's book "The Crusader" -- stars Dennis Quaid in a sympathetic treatment that traces Reagan's arc from childhood to the Oval Office.

And in fifth place, "Twisters" -- Universal's follow-up to 1996's popular "Twister" -- garnered an estimated $7.2 million in ticket sales. Glen Powell plays a charming down-home storm chaser intrigued by a mysteriously prescient rival (Daisy Edgar-Jones) as they are battered by an astonishing series of tornadoes.

The North American box office, hit first by Covid and then by strikes, started the summer slowly.

But strong showings by "Deadpool," "Alien," "Inside Out 2" and "Twisters" have helped produce a dramatic reversal, and Tim Burton's "Beetlejuice Beetlejuice" is expected to provide a further boost next weekend.

Rounding out the top 10 were:

"Blink Twice" ($4.7 million)

"The Forge" ($4.6 million)

"Despicable Me 4" ($4.1 million)

"Afr AI d" ($3.7 million)

"Coraline" (15th anniversary re-release, $3.2 million)