Initially slated for a June 1st release, Deadpool 2 was subsequently shuffled between Avengers: Infinity War and Solo: A Star Wars Story specifically to avoid a box office clash with the latter. Imagine the look on the face of director David Leitch, then, when he learned that his R-rated farce bested the opening weekend total of the Ron Howard-directed space western.
Well, we’ve now got the next best thing.
Earlier this week, we learned that, in addition to crossing the $500 million mark at the worldwide box office – a figure, mind you, Solo can consider a pipe dream, at best – Deadpool 2, having hauled in $125 million upon release, handily outshone the paltry $84.7 million earned by the spinoff on Memorial Day weekend.
Leitch, who was just as surprised with the upset as the respective fandoms, discussed the triumph with ComicBook.com, and, as expected, modestly directed the praise to his cast and crew.
To commemorate the achievement, we compiled a gallery of concept art and before and after VFX images from Deadpool 2, featuring Cable (Josh Brolin), Domino (Zazie Beetz), Firefist (Julian Dennison) and of course, the Merc with a Mouth, for your viewing pleasure. Now, we’ve got yet another gallery, this time complete with hi-res stills highlighting Colossus (Stefan Kapicic) and Juggernaut, among others.
Although it ultimately fell short of achieving the highest-grossing R-rated debut, which is, coincidentally enough, held by its predecessor, Deadpool 2 does have another record or two lined up in the crosshairs: highest grossing comedy sequel of all-time (The Hangover: Part II, $587M), and biggest comedy sequel in North America (Meet the Fockers, $279M).
Whether it’ll hit either of those remains to be seen, but no one can deny that the Merc’s second solo outing has been a tremendous success and that the anti-hero has a very bright cinematic future ahead of him.