Deadpool 2 Shatters Opening Night Record For R-Rated Films

A couple of months back, the Deadpool 2 ship was looking a bit wobbly. There were reports that test audiences weren’t enjoying the movie, and the simple fact that a successful comedy sequel is a relatively rare beast had people worried. But with rave critical reviews and positive audience reactions, it’s looking as if the Merc with a Mouth is onto another winner, which is already translating into broken box office records.

As we reported yesterday, Deadpool 2 stormed into theaters on Thursday night and scooped up roughly $15 million on the day before its initial release, which beat previous record holder IT, as New Line’s reboot only managed $13.5 million. Deadpool 2‘s predecessor, meanwhile, raked in a healthy $12.7 million on Thursday previews, which turned out to be the harbinger of some truly impressive R-rated moneymaking.

Now, DP is continuing the momentum, posting a hugely impressive $53.5 million on Friday. That mean it’s topped IT ($50.4 million) once again to claim the record for highest opening day of all-time for an R-rated movie. Couple that with what it did Thursday, and analysts now estimate that when all is said and done and Monday morning rolls around, Wade Wilson will have brought in about $132 million domestically for Fox.

That’d put it neck and neck with its predecessor, which did $132.4 million back in 2016. So, at the very least, the sequel will likely perform the same, if not a little better due to all the positive word of mouth and strong reviews it’s getting. After all, some folks are feeling especially optimistic and pegging the second coming of DP at a $150 million opening – though we think that may be a bit generous.

Either way, the point is, Deadpool 2 is another smash hit for Fox and one that should have studio execs pretty happy. Not to mention we imagine they’ll be more motivated than ever now to continue building out Wade’s corner of the X-Men universe, which will continue with Drew Goddard’s X-Force, a spinoff that this film certainly planted the seeds for.