It’s a remarkable achievement: Justin Baldoni’s “It Ends with Us” hit the $100 million mark last night.
Costing $55 million, the Blake Lively domestic drama has essentially broken even. International box office is another $82 million. So that’s all gravy.
But Monday’s receipts were down 55% from last Monday, so the novelty is wearing off. Still, “Ends” could end around $150 million.
Not bad considering all the negative publicity around the film. The director Baldoni is in a public conflict with Lively, although no one knows why exactly. The scuttlebutt is that Lively and husband Ryan Reynolds usurped power during the shoot. Now Baldoni and Lively can’t be seen in public together, don’t talk, and yadda yadda yadda.
Did the scandal turn audiences off? No, it seems to have fueled them. It makes you think they did this on purpose, and the controversy is contrived. But they’d all have to get Oscars if that’s the case.
