It looks as though the highly anticipated Deadpool 2 will be taking the box office by storm this weekend, taking in a projected $130 million and climbing at the box office. This includes the already reported $18.6 million from its Thursday night previews, and the $52 million already reported for Friday.
Deadpool‘s debut in February 2016 became the highest opening weekend for an R-Rated film, taking in $132.4 million. The sequel has a narrow chance here to overcome that high debut and exceed all expectations. It’s certainly not a bad sign that the film is competing essentially against itself to be the highest grossing weekend warrior for all R-Rated films — I don’t think Deadpool himself would have it any other way.
This will be the widest release in Fox history, according to The Hollywood Reporter, as they plan to release the film in 4,349 theaters across the country. It will easily overtake Avengers: Infinity War, projected now at $31 million, ending the film’s three week hot streak. That said, both Avengers: Infinity War and Black Panther had much larger opening weekend, although they definitely had a leg up, being PG-13 with the ability to reach a far wider audience.
Deadpool 2 follows the merc-with-a-mouth (Ryan Reynolds) on a new adventure to protect a young boy with supernatural abilities from the time traveling villain Cable (Josh Brolin). With him are a newly formed band of fellow rogue mutants, to be known as the X-Force. This band includes characters portrayed by Zazie Beetz, Brianna Hildebrand, and more. The film is directed by David Leitch.