Blake Lively and husband Ryan Reynolds dominated the box office as rumors of possible cast drama swirled around the actress’ film.
“It Ends With Us” starring Lively joined Reynolds’ “Deadpool & Wolverine” as a box office contender on Aug. 9. The highly anticipated movie is adapted from the popular Colleen Hoover book of the same name.
Reynolds’ Marvel Studios smash “Deadpool & Wolverine” remained the top movie in North American theaters for the third straight week with $54.2 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday. Worldwide, it’s now surpassed $1 billion. “Deadpool & Wolverine” was closely followed by “It Ends With Us,” the romance drama starring Lively, which surpassed expectations with a stellar $50 million debut.
This is the first time in 34 years that a husband and wife duo have topped the box office. The last time audiences enjoyed a moment like this was in 1990 when Bruce Willis’ “Die Hard 2” and Demi Moore’s “Ghost” took the top two spots.
While “It Ends With Us” hit the box office with impressive numbers, the promotional tour was met with speculation of drama between Lively, Reynolds and Justin Baldoni – who directed and starred in the film.
Fans took to TikTok and other social media platforms to share theories behind peculiar aspects of the press tour. Representatives for neither Lively nor Baldoni responded to Fox News Digital’s request for comment.
Baldoni largely did his portion of the press tour solo despite being the lead alongside Lively. While many found this odd, the “Jane the Virgin” star spent time praising Lively.
“You can’t summarize Blake’s contribution in a sentence because her energy and imprint is all over the movie and really, really made the film better, and from beginning to end,” he told “Today.”
He also pointed to Lively when asked who should direct the possible sequel instead of himself.
“I think that there are better people for that one,” he told Entertainment Tonight. “I think Blake Lively’s ready to direct, that’s what I think.”
However, Lively didn’t seem to mention Baldoni in any interviews.
The speculation didn’t stop there.
Fans also noticed that Baldoni followed Lively and Slate on Instagram, but the two female cast members were not following the director.
An interview Slate did with Deadline also had fans wondering if she was shading Baldoni’s multiple roles in making the movie.
“I mean, what an intense job to do so many things,” she told the outlet when asked about Baldoni acting and directing “It Ends With Us.” “I just found it to be something, like, ‘Wow, I really just want to have one job at once.’”
“I was looking around like, ‘Yeah, I’m good with just acting,’” Slate added. “I really – I love it. I just want to do it.”
Fans were also surprised to learn that Reynolds actually worked on the film and apparently rewrote at least one scene.
“The iconic rooftop scene, my husband actually wrote it,” Lively revealed to E! News at the Aug. 6 premiere. “Nobody knows that but you now.”
Reynolds might actually have had a bigger hand in the creation of “It Ends With Us” along with other projects Lively has worked on.
“We help each other. He works on everything I do; I work on everything he does,” she added. “So his wins, his celebrations are mine and mine are his.”
SOURCE: THE FOX NEWS