Why Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds both can declare box office victory

A battle of the celebrity spouses unfolded at the box office this weekend as Sony Pictures’ “It Ends With Us,” starring Blake Lively, proved a formidable opponent to Walt Disney Co.’s “Deadpool & Wolverine,” starring husband Ryan Reynolds.

“It Ends With Us” surged way past early expectations, debuting with $50 million in ticket sales in the U.S. and Canada following an impressive pre-sale haul, according to Sunday estimates from Sony. The film had been projected to launch between $25 million and $35 million.

“Deadpool & Wolverine,” which last month scored the biggest domestic opening ever for an R-rated release, grossed $54.2 million in its third weekend for a domestic total of $494.3 million, according to Disney. Globally, the superhero blockbuster brought in $112 million more over the weekend, pushing it past the $1-billion mark and making it the only other film besides “Inside Out 2” to reach that milestone this year.

Sony said the Lively-Reynolds results marked the first time a married couple took the top two domestic box office spots since 1990, when Demi Moore’s “Ghost” and Bruce Willis’ “Die Hard 2” finished 1-2 in theaters. Lively and Reynolds, who wed in 2012, are also credited as producers on their respective movies. (As if their rollouts weren’t already entwined enough, Lively makes a cameo in “Deadpool & Wolverine” and Reynolds had a hand in writing a key scene from “It Ends With Us.”)

Based on the bestselling Colleen Hoover novel of the same name, “It Ends with Us” stars Lively as a flower-shop owner who falls in love with an abusive neurosurgeon. The supporting cast includes Brandon Sklenar, Jenny Slate and Justin Baldoni, who also directed the film.

The romance-drama received a middling 59% positive rating on review aggregation site Rotten Tomatoes, and an A-minus from audiences polled by CinemaScore.

“‘It Ends With Us’ continues the tradition of ‘women’s pictures’ that were an essential part of Hollywood film production in the 1940s — Bette Davis could have starred in a version of this some 80 years ago,” wrote film critic Katie Walsh for Tribune News Service.

“But women’s pictures also have to express a stark reality that unfortunately gets muddled here, in a bungled adaptation that is at once too close and too far from its source.”

In the No. 3 box office spot, director Lee Isaac Chung’s “Twisters” closed its fourth weekend with $15 million, according to measurement firm Comscore. Powered partly by its epic action sequence, the Universal film has raised its domestic total to $222.3 million.

Eli Roth’s “Borderlands,” subject of some critical lashing, opened to a disappointing $8.8 million for Lionsgate. It barely edged out “Despicable Me 4,” which finished fifth with $8 million in its sixth weekend. Universal’s animated hit has reached $330.1 million in total domestic ticket sales.

The only other debut in the top 10 was Neon’s “Cuckoo,” which finished the weekend in ninth with $3 million.

Opening next weekend are Disney’s “Alien: Romulus,” Falling Forward Films’ “Ryan’s World the Movie: Titan Universe Adventure,” Roadside Attractions’ “My Penguin Friend” and IFC Films’ “Skincare.”