Whatever anxiety or reluctance it may have taken to get the anarchic comic book adaptation Deadpool to the screen has paid off, seriously. The film, which opened stateside of February 12th, exploded out of the gates with critics and fans and defied even the most generous of box office prognostications. Ever since the movie – which stars Ryan Reynolds as foul-mouthed vigilante – opened to an incredible $132 million seven weeks ago, the question arouse just how high will its box office soar?
Well, Deadpool is now the highest grossing R-rated at the worldwide box office. With receipts totaling nearly $746 million, the film (which marked the directorial debut of Tim Miller) took over the global top spot from The Matrix Reloaded (which earned $742.1 million worldwide). Deadpool broke a record that’s been on the books now for nearly thirteen years.
In North American ticket sales, Deadpool is currently the third highest grossing title behind The Passion of the Christ (2004) and American Sniper (2014), however it will quickly eclipse Clint Eastwood’s Oscar winning war drama as it’s only $700,000 behind. Deadpool is trailing Mel Gibson’s faith-based epic by about $20 million, a feat which may be feasibly topped as Deadpool is still running strong on 2,000+ screens and still charting in the Top Ten. All figures are unadjusted for inflation, but a record is a record.
Ever more remarkable is that Deadpool snatches such a victory directly following the opening weekend of the much anticipated Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice. The DC Comics extravaganza minted $166 million this past weekend, record for a pre-summer release but a few notches below what distributor Warner Bros. reported on Sunday. The jury is still out on whether or not Zack Snyder’s epic showdown of the titans will clear into profitability, but the thriftier (and raunchier) Deadpool cleared that hurdle long ago.
Deadpool 2, inevitably, is in the works.
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