It Ends With Us has sailed past the $100 million mark at the global box office in its first week.
The film adaptation of Colleen Hoover‘s hit novel achieved the milestone on Wednesday after finishing the day with a domestic tally of $68.9 million and an early foreign total of $46.6 million for a global total of $115.5 million. (The movie, starring Blake Lively, rolled out in select overseas markets a day or two before opening everywhere in North America on Aug. 9, a Friday.)
From Sony and Wayfarer Studios, the summer pic exceeded all expectations when debuting domestically to $50 million over the Aug. 9-11 weekend. It placed a strong second behind the third weekend of Deadpool & Wolverine, the blockbuster superhero pic that stars Ryan Reynolds, Lively’s husband, and Hugh Jackman. On Monday, It Ends With Us pulled ahead of the Deadpool threequel and has since been coming in No. 1.
The R-rated film also impressed overseas in collecting $30 million from its first 42 markets for a global start of $80 million against a modest $25 million budget.
It Ends With Us stars Lively as Lily Bloom, a woman who overcomes a traumatic childhood watching her father abuse her mother to embark on a new life in Boston and fulfill a lifelong dream of opening her own business. A chance meeting with charming neurosurgeon Ryle Kincaid (Justin Baldoni) sparks an intense connection, but as the two fall deeply in love, Lily begins to see sides of Ryle that remind her of her parents’ relationship. When Lily’s first love, Atlas Corrigan (Brandon Sklenar), suddenly reenters her life, her relationship with Ryle is upended, and Lily realizes she must learn to rely on her own strength to make an impossible choice for her future.
Baldoni, co-founder of Wayfarer Studios, directed the movie.
All eyes are on how It Ends With Us will perform in its second weekend. It faces little competition in terms of female-skewing fare and boasts stellar audiences scores. Sony insiders are being cautious in suggesting $22 million to $24 million, but others think it could do in the mid- to high-$20 million range.
There’s also the matter of an ongoing social media storm that began when Lively, Hoover and other cast members conspicuously didn’t pose in pictures with Baldoni at the New York premiere (they also had unfollowed him on Instagram). Reports emerged that a rift had occurred during production because of creative differences between Lively and Baldoni, as well as allegations that he alienated Lively and others on set with certain comments. To date, neither side has commented, although Baldoni has hired PR crisis communications exec Melissa Nathan.
Even top Sony brass jumped into the mix to back Lively when users on social media took aim at her for not taking the movie’s subject matter of domestic abuse seriously enough, though she spoke about it often on the press tour.
“Blake, Colleen and so many women put so much effort into this remarkable movie, working selflessly from the start to ensure that such an important subject matter was handled with care. Audiences love the movie. Blake’s passion and commitment to advancing the conversation around domestic violence is commendable,” Sony Pictures Entertainment Chair-CEO Tony Vinciquerra told The Hollywood Reporter on Aug. 15. He made no mention of Baldoni.
“We love working with Blake,” the top exec continued, “and we want to do 12 more movies with her.”
