The end of Hugh Jackman's run as Wolverine in the stunning Logan might be bittersweet, but the cinematic swansong of the most famous X-Men character has cleaned up at the box office. Including Thursday night previews, Logan's US opening weekend swelled to a massive $88.4 and set a new record for an R-rated movie released in March.
While far from the $132.4 million launch that Deadpool enjoyed last year, Logan's success for an R-rated superhero movie shouldn't be in any way diminished. As a bonus, Logan's opening weekend just managed to creep ahead of the $85.1 million debut of X-Men Origins Wolverine back in 2009. It's also worth noting that Logan pulled in $20 million more than last summer's X-Men: Apocalypse did over its opening weekend, and that sequel was a box office friendly PG-13.
Meanwhile, Logan's performance at the international box office has gotten off to a healthy start with more than $152 million taken over the weekend. I think it's safe to assume that Logan will overtake The Wolverine ($414 million) as the highest-grossing standalone movie for the character by the time it has finished its theatrical run.
Elsewhere in the US top ten, the latest horror from micro-budget producer Jason Blum, Get Out, followed it's $33 million launch with a robust $26 million second weekend. After the $240 million success of the Blum-produced Split, Blumhouse Films is on something of a hot streak and a sequel to Get Out is undoubtedly high on their to-do list.
Fresh from its Oscar victory, La La Land is on the verge of a staggering $400 million global total and is currently ranked as the fourth biggest musical of all time. Expect La La Land to break a few more box office records before it dances its way out of cinemas.