‘Deadpool’ holds top box-office spot over new releases ‘Risen,’ ‘The Witch’ and ‘Race’

The antihero superhero tale “Deadpool” got off to another roaring weekend on Friday, bringing in more than $16 million on its way to a three-day estimate of around $55 million. Last week the Ryan Reynolds-starring action-comedy posted the biggest opening ever for an R-rated film in North America.

The top new opener for the weekend looks to be “Risen,” bringing in $4 million on Friday on its way to an estimated $12 million for the weekend. The film tells the biblical story of Christ’s resurrection with Joseph Fiennes and Tom Felton as two Roman officials charged with investigating rumors of Jesus having risen from the dead.

With “Risen” looking to capture one faith-based audience, at the other end of the spectrum is “The Witch,” the 17th century-set horror folktale of family drama, mania and witchcraft that has been endorsed by the Satanic Temple. The widest opening release yet from the distributor A24, the film brought in $3.2 million on Friday for a projected weekend total around $8 million.

Also opening this weekend is “Race,” in which Stephan James stars as Jesse Owens in the story of how he brought home four gold medals from the 1936 Olympics in Germany. Directed by Stephen Hopkins, the film grossed $2.3 million on Friday on its way to an estimated $6.8 million for the weekend.

In holdover news, “Kung Fu Panda 3” brought in $2.8 million on Friday, looking to an estimated $13.2 million for the weekend. “How to Be Single” brought in $2.7 million on its way to a weekend estimate of $8 million, while “Zoolander 2” had a $1.6 million Friday for a weekend estimate of $5.38 million.

With the Academy Awards next weekend, the only Oscar nominee in the box office Top 10 is “The Revenant,” which brought in under $1 million on Friday for a weekend estimate of $3.8 million. In its ninth week of release, the Leonardo DiCaprio-starring survival tale will have grossed more than $165 million domestically.

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