‘Logan’ claws its way to the top of box office charts

Twentieth Century Fox’s “Logan” may be Hugh Jackman’s final portrayal of iconic X-Men character Wolverine, but the man with the adamantium claws isn’t going out without a fight.

The film earned an estimated $85.3 million from Friday to Monday, obliterating its box office competition and relegating Jordan Peele’s socially conscious horror film “Get Out” to second place despite earning $26.1 million, just a 22% drop from opening weekend.

Directed by James Mangold, “Logan” adapts the “Old Man Logan” comic, following an aged Wolverine and ailing Professor X (Patrick Stewart) as they cross paths with a young mutant who will change their lives.

The R-rated film’s take is the biggest opening weekend of 2017 and the fourth-best R-rated debut of all time.

According to the studio, the key to the film’s success comes in the execution of its vision, blending the visceral with the personal.

“[Mangold] and [Jackman] came in long ago and pitched their version of the film, that was definitely going to be R-rated, that it was going to be a very personal story and that’s exactly the movie that we have,” said Chris Aronson, head of domestic distribution for 20th Century Fox. “I think they did a beautiful job of telling that story, and both critics and audiences have responded.”

In addition to its domestic earnings, “Logan” earned an estimated $152.5 million internationally, according to the studio, bringing the film’s worldwide opening weekend estimate to $237.8 million.

The big weekend for “Logan” comes despite the film’s relatively modest superhero budget, a mere $97 million, not including marketing costs. In comparison, 2016’s “X-Men: Apocalypse” was budgeted at $178 million and made just $79.8 million in its four-day Memorial Day weekend debut.

Lionsgate’s “The Shack” outpaced expectations to bring in an estimated $16.1 million in its opening weekend, good enough for third at the box office. An adaptation of the Christian novel of the same name, it stars Sam Worthington as a man who meets three iterations of God after the death of his daughter.

Warner Bros.’ “The Lego Batman Movie” landed at No. 4 for the weekend, with the animated comedy adding $11.6 million to its four week haul, bringing its domestic cumulative take to $148.6 million.

The weekend’s other new release, Open Road’s teen drama “Before I Fall,” rounded out the top five, earning about $4.9 million for its eponymous adaptation of the novel about a girl (Zoey Deutch) repeatedly forced to relive the final day of her life.

Lionsgate’s “John Wick: Chapter 2” landed at No. 6 in its fourth week of release. Keanu Reeves’ quietly competent killer brought in $4.7 million for a total of $82.8 million.

The Oscars continue to drive audiences to the theaters.

Twentieth Century Fox’s “Hidden Figures,” a film centered around the black women mathematicians working at NASA in the 1960’s, finished in seventh place with $3.8 for the weekend and $158.7 million domestically. Lionsgate’s hit Hollywood musical “La La Land” may have lost best picture, but took in $2.9 million for 10th place and $145.6 million overall.

“Moonlight,” the Academy Award winner for feature film, expanded its theatrical run to more than 1,500 screens for its highest-grossing weekend to date, earning $2.5 million. The film has earned more than $25 million at the box office, despite a production budget of only $1.5 million.

[email protected]

ALSO

Hugh Jackman’s last Wolverine movie, ‘Logan,’ is going to shred its box-office competition

‘Get Out’ tops box office with huge $30.5 million in ticket sales

The force that is Zoey Deutch: Ambitious, curious and hater of the term ‘it’ girl

UPDATES:

10:25 a.m.: This story has been updated with comments from Chris Aronson and with more details about “Logan.”

This story was originally published at 9 a.m.