While Deadpool breaks the fourth wall in the comics and the new movie, the Marvel character has now broken something quite a bit bigger. 20th Century Fox‘s Deadpool movie earned an estimated $135 million from 3,558 theaters over the three-day portion of the four-day Valentine’s Day/Presidents’ Day holiday weekend. That breaks the previous record for the best opening weekend for the month of February, which was set by Fifty Shades of Grey last year with $85.1 million. It will also break Fifty Shades of Grey‘s four-day Presidents’ Day holiday weekend record of $93 million, as 20th Century Fox is projecting $150 million for the four days domestically. It is now also the biggest R-rated opener ever, surpassing The Matrix Reloaded‘s $91.7 million, can claim the record of largest R-rated comic book adaptation (which was previously 300‘s $70.8 million), and is the biggest opening ever for 20th Century Fox (surpassing Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith‘s $108.4 million).
Internationally, Deadpool opened with an estimated $125 million from 61 markets for a global total of $260 million through Sunday!
IMAX’s global take on Deadpool will hit a holiday weekend total of $28 million. For the weekend up to Sunday, the IMAX take is $24.7 million, which clobbers the previous best February opener, RoboCop‘s $6.3 million. In North America, Deadpool delivered heroic results on 374 IMAX screens with a four-day total of $19 million, or a mighty $51,000 per screen. Internationally, the Merc with a Mouth went big on 232 IMAX screens grossing $8.9 million for the long weekend, $7.9 million without the Monday.
The Tim Miller-directed adaptation, written by Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese, was made for just $58 million and received an A CinemaScore from audiences. The film stars Ryan Reynolds as the title character alongside T.J. Miller as Weasel, Gina Carano as Angel Dust, Brianna Hildebrand as Negasonic Teenage Warhead, Morena Baccarin as Copycat, and Ed Skrein as Ajax. The film also features the mutant Colossus, voiced by Serbian actor Stefan Kapicic.
Dropping a spot to second place at the North American box office was DreamWorks Animation’s Kung Fu Panda 3, also distributed by 20th Century Fox. The sequel added $19.7 million through Sunday and is expected to bring in $26 million over the four days to push its three-week total to $100.3 million after Monday. Kung Fu Panda 3 features the voices of Jack Black, Angelina Jolie, Dustin Hoffman, Jackie Chan, Seth Rogen, Lucy Liu, David Cross, James Hong, Randall Duk Kim, Bryan Cranston, J.K. Simmons and Kate Hudson.
Third place belonged to New Line and MGM’s new R-rated comedy How to be Single, starring Dakota Johnson, Rebel Wilson, Alison Brie and Leslie Mann. Made for $38 million, the film earned an estimated $18.8 million from 3,343 theaters over the three days and should hit $21 million for the four days. How to be Single received a B CinemaScore from audiences.
Debuting in fourth place was the Ben Stiller-directed Zoolander 2 with $15.7 million from 3,394 theaters for the three days and an estimated $18 million through Monday. The Paramount Pictures sequel, also starring Stiller, Owen Wilson, Will Ferrell, Penelope Cruz and Kristin Wiig, cost about $50 million to make and earned a C+ CinemaScore.
20th Century Fox’s The Revenant added $6.9 million in fifth place its eight weekend in theaters over the three-day portion and $8.1 million over the four days for a total of $160.4 million. The Academy Award-nominated film was followed closely by Universal’s Hail, Caesar! with $6.59 million for the three days. The Coen brothers film is expected to make $7.51 million over the four days for a total of $22.3 million.
Also, Star Wars: The Force Awakens added $6.2 million domestically over the three days and about $7.55 million for the four days. Internationally, the J.J. Abrams-directed film earned $4.3 million for a global weekend take of $10.5 million. Domestically, Star Wars: The Force Awakens has earned $914.8 million and $1.112 billion internationally for a worldwide total of $2.026 billion.
