We were promised a load of him, and it looks like loads of people took Ryan Reynolds and Deadpool up on the offer. The snarky, meta, violent and sweary superhero smashed some box office records in the States, opening to an impressive $150 million across the four-day Presidents Day weekend, according to studio estimates.
The Merc with a mouth took in $132.7 million just across the three usual weekend days and beat off (that's how he'd say it) previous R-rated record holders such as Fifty Shades Of Grey, which held the title for February releases and The Matrix Reloaded, which had been the top R-rated opener across a year. Oh, and in R-Rated adaptations of comics, it laid waste to 300's $70.8 million from 2006. With a production budget that was kept below $60 million and a clever ad campaign, Deadpool is now headed for more than $275 million globally in its first weekend. That's no small achievement for a movie seen as a big gamble, and makes the sequel and other potential X-Men crossovers all but set in stone.
Elsewhere, things were not as healthy, with Kung Fu Panda 3 seeing off the other new arrivals and slipping one place to second with $26 million. The new DreamWorks' toon has crossed the $100 million mark in the States after three weeks on release. But How To Be Single, which hoped to snag the non-comic-book crowd and take advantage of Sunday being Valentine's Day, could only manage $20.6 million across the four days. And Zoolander 2 fared even worse, hurt by some bad buzz and opening fourth with $16 million. That's just one million more than the original managed in 2001 in a smaller number of cinemas.
In fifth place we find The Revenant, likely enjoying a boost from another awards haul, and earning $7.8 million for the four days.
Star Wars: The Force Awakens fell three places to sixth, taking home $7.6 million, while the Coens' Hail, Caesar! was seventh with $7.2 million. The Choice dropped to eighth, earning $5.9 million, ahead of Ride Along 2 in ninth and $5 million. Finally, horror movie The Boy slipped one spot to 10th, scaring up $3.5 million.