Deadpool rolled through theaters this holiday weekend leaving behind destruction, chimichangas, and lots of happy fans.
The R-rated “superhero” movie defied all previous odds and has broken all records for highest gross earning for the holiday weekend. Just within the first three days of it’s premiere the movie has earned a whopping $135 million nationwide, beating out other “wholesome” heroes opening records. Beating out previous R-rated success by a landslide, such as Matrix Reloaded, and 300, Deadpool is now the first R-rated movie to cross the $100m mark and the 8th biggest non-summer debut. This is also now 20th Century Fox’s biggest hit, and had the potential of earning more if Hollywood hadn’t been handing fans superhero movies galore. But the projected earnings are only growing as the numbers keep changing as the weekend comes to an end and more days are being added.
The movie comes as a huge redemption for actor Ryan Reynolds, after big budget flop Green Lantern. In fact to the actor this is a much bigger victory than just redemption. Ever since noticing the comic book character Reynolds has been the frontrunner for making this cinematic dream come true. After years of struggling for approval and then bringing together the crew the movie finally hit the silver screens. The actor went to social media to not only promote the movie, but also to thank everyone for the success it is now seeing.
With his directorial debut, Tim Miller also enjoys the success of the characterization of the “merc with a mouth”. Though an X-Men spinoff character, many had deemed the comic book favorite too vulgar for the silver screens. When talk hit that the movie might not even be R-rated many fans brought up cries of disappointment, but Reynolds pushed for the movie. Thanks to the movie’s national and global success ($150m overseas) bringing it’s total success to $300m, at least for now. All of this provides Marvel the push needed to create a fan favorite: Uncanny X-Force. Although the possibility of that particular Deadpool/X-men comic being made into a movie is much slimmer, Deadpool fought and defeated those odds.
Uncanny X-Force was one of the spinoff comics, created during the peak of X-Men fame, which presented a black-ops background for known superheroes. Written by Rick Remender and created by Jerome Opeña, the tale broke one of X-Men’s legendary rules, in the comic the superheroes killed. Basically the story goes as Cyclops creating the black-ops group to use lethal force with dangers that required more strength than the regular X-Men. Taking Marvel in a darker direction that usual the comic was visually darker and grander. When the tale was picked up again in 2010 it incorporated the darker themes and new heroes/allies into the group. Ones that would help fans ease into the mindset of the superheroes that had their backs pushed to the wall to accept violence, such as Wolverine, Psylocke, Fantomex, and Deadpool. The comic goes in depth with ethical questions and presents new sides to Deadpool, honestly the character arcs in the short-lived tale are tremendous. So thanks to Deadpool’s success, the doors for so many other opportunities are now open.
If you haven’t already, go check out the movie you won’t regret it, but of course viewer discretion is advised. But do as Deadpool would, sit back, eat a chimichanga, and enjoy the cinematic success of the public’s favorite antihero.
