The R-rated Ryan Reynolds starring superhero movie Deadpool blew everything out of the water this weekend with an estimated 135 million opening over the three days, but an expected 150 million over the four day weekend. The huge success of the film was way beyond all expectations and will probably open the door to more R-rated superhero properties now, seeing as it's 20th Century Fox's biggest opening weekend ever, the biggest ever opener for an R-rated movie, and probably quite a few other records that I won't bother to list, because, well, you get it. It's big. Reynolds spent the last ten years of hi life trying to bring this property to the big screen, so this relaunches him back onto the A-list after a decade of flops, but I'm willing to bet he'll be tied to this one character for a long time.
The other new releases, How to Be Single and Zoolander 2, didn't make enough for second place, which went to Kung Fu Panda 3 again, as the other two disappointed, especially Zoolander, which got slaughtered by critics and earned a "C+" Cinemascore. It actually earned just 15 million over the weekend, which is almost the exact same number the first one did back in 2001. The Revenant came in fifth, bringing its new total to 160 million, as it marches towards Oscar glory.
Top 5:
- Deadpool- 135 million
- Kung Fu Panda 3- 19.7 million
- How to Be Single- 18.8 million
- Zoolander 2- 15.6 million
- The Revenant- 6.9 million
Once again, not much to report on in limited release, as the big story this weekend was all Deadpool and what that might do for the other kinds of hero movies in the future. I would say hopefully it means that studios might take more risks with some darker, more original comic book properties, as the great thing about this one is that it couldn't feel less like a Marvel Cinematic Universe movie if it tried, and that includes the so-called more inventive stuff like Guardians of the Galaxy. But you never know. Tune back in next week to see if the biopic Race, the Jesus movie Risen, and the horror movie The Witch, can do anything against Deadpool in its second week, but the answer will probably be no.
