Share

‘Deadpool,’ Marvel’s profane superhero, has record box office opening

The Deadpool movie has been a long time coming for comic book buffs since test footage was leaked online in 2014.

Advertisement

According to The Wrap, the film has already made an estimated $135 million in just the opening three-day weekend.

It becomes the biggest February weekend, surpassing the $85.2 million garnered by “Fifty Shades of Grey” in 2015. “The Revenant, ” $6.9 million ($14 million international); 6. Seeing how high it can climb in relation to other superhero movies, of course.

Deadpool was aggressively promoting itself to be an R-rated superhero movie, and its promotion was so well-executed that we imagine there were many underage moviegoers who wished to get in early to see the film Thursday night. The newest comic book character on the movie block took out the box office President’s Weekend while smashing records and giving new life to Ryan Reynolds. The last time he played a superhero was in 2011’s “Green Lantern” which was both a critical and commercial flop – a $200+ movie which opened with just over $53 million, and went onto to gross $116 million domestic (plus $103 million foreign). If they’ve changed at all it’s by cramming more and more and more and more heroes into each film, to the point where “Avengers: Age of Ultron” continually felt like it was ready to topple over from sheer weight. To compare, the upcoming “Batman v Superman” is said to cost around $225-$250 million, with a $150 million worldwide marketing budget, bringing its total production and marketing expenses to around $400 million.

Now the first “Zoolander” did awful at the box office, too, but with the cult following it built Paramount was at least hoping for a $20 million opening.

Zoolander 2, which brought back Stiller and Wilson’s famed male models from 2001’s Zoolander, ended in a catwalk stumble and a disappointing fourth with $15.7 million.

In third place, the R-rated Dakota Johnson and Rebel Wilson rom-com “How to Be Single” didn’t make any big waves with its $18.8 million out of the gates.

I’m Deadpool 2, Deadpool 3, probably Deadpool 4 and – hell, maybe even 5.

Advertisement

This certainly qualifies for Reynolds, and it makes the film’s post-credits scenes less of a joke, because not only will there certainly be a Deadpool 2, it’s got to be a priority for Fox. Part of the reason this movie works so well as a romcom is because of the fact that the relationship depicted between Wade and Vanessa is one of the most healthy we’ve seen in a while.

'Deadpool had the biggest opening ever for an R-rated film this weekend hauling in an estimated $135 million at the domestic box office