February may just be the new July thanks to Deadpool as the R-Rated superhero movie is performing just as well as any huge 20th Century Fox or Marvel Studios' blockbuster. After a record setting $47.5 million on Friday, the Tim Miller helmed release looks set to take $117 million over three days and a total of $130 million for the long Valentine's Day/Presidents Day weekend. That places it among the top 10 comic book movie openings and is the biggets debut in history for an R-Rated film.
Early estimates pointed to Deadpool making $70 million if it was lucky, and it was only last night that analysts started predicting a total of $90 million. It's now far exceeded that, leaving studio execs who pegged it as a guaranteed box office flop red faced. To put these numbers into context for you, Deadpool has beaten the likes of Guardians of the Galaxy ($94.3 million) and Captain America: The Winter Soldier ($95 million), so this is a massive victory for Ryan Reynolds after a string of flops like Green Lantern and R.I.P.D.
Of course, the actor and movie deserve every bit of its success, and hopefully we'll get a message from Deadpool any day now which makes the sequel 100% official.