WhileBatman v Superman: Dawn of Justicecertainly hada good weekend at the box office, it’s good news for superhero movies all around.Deadpooldemolished all expectations in February as the R-rated superhero pic opened to a massive $132.4 million—huge not just for an R-rated movie, but for a non-sequel, non-famous IP property—and now the film has crossed another box office milestone. This past weekend sawDeadpoolhit an astounding worldwide gross of $745.9 million, which solidifies its status as the highest grossing R-rated movie worldwide.
Many figured this record was a possibility asDeadpoolseemingly could not be stopped, continuing to add serious money weekend after weekend, and now it’s official as the Merc with a Mouth as surpassedThe Matrix Reloaded’s previous record haul of $742 million worldwide.
Again, this is impressive for a number of reasons,especiallygiven thatDeadpoolwasn’t an adaptation of something that was already massively popular to general audiences nor a sequel. I’d go so far as to considerTim Miller’s comics adaptation a semi-original film given that the tentpole landscape is almost exclusively franchise material, ranging from sequels to reboots of already popular/widely known properties. The gamble on Fox’s part, to go with an R-rated adaptation of this foul-mouthed, non-kid-friendly, fourth-wall-breaking character cannot be overstated, and boy did the perseverance of Miller, starRyan Reynolds, and writersRhett ReeseandPaul Wernickover the years pay off. One imagines they’ll all be heavily compensated for their presumed work on the inevitableDeadpool 2.
On the domestic chart,Deadpoolstill sits at #3 as far as R-rated grosses go. Its $349.4 million haul is just a hair short ofAmerican Sniper’s $350.1 million gross, whileThe Passion of the Christcontinues to reign supreme with $370.7 million.
All in all, 2016’s slate of superhero movies is off to a smashing start—box office-wise, at least—so it’ll be interesting to see how the year progresses, and if audiences start to feel a bit of fatigue from the genre as the months wear on. Two down, four to go.
