One of this summer’s most anticipated movies, 20th Century Fox’sDeadpool 2, hit theaters last night with Thursday sneak preview screenings, and it has already set a newbox officerecord. This sequel took in a whopping $18.6 million in Thursday screenings, easily beating the previous R-rated record of $13.5 million, set last fall by the New Line Cinema horror hitIT. Industry projections had put the sequel’s Thursday haul between $15 million and $18 million, as the Merc With the Mouth found a way to, yet again, defy the odds and projections.
Deadpool 2opened in 3,785 theaters with preview screenings starting at 7 PM local time, with exit polling revealing that fans gave it a 5 out of 5 rating, with 78% giving it a “definite recommend” rating.Deadpool 2expands today to 4,349 theaters, which sets even more box office records. The theater count marks the highest ever for an R-rated movie, breaking the record of 4,103 theaters set last fall byIT, and it’s also the widest release in 20th Century Fox history, besting the 20th Century Fox/DreamWorks Animation movieHow to Train Your Dragon 2(4,253 theaters).
Deadpool 2 was projected to take in roughy $150 million this weekend, an improvement over the originalDeadpool’s $132.4 million, the highest opening weekend for an R-rated movie in history. The originalDeadpoolwas projected to take in roughly $50 million in its opening weekend, and it nearly matched that projection on its first day, with a $47.3 million day on Friday, including a Thursday sneak peek tally of $12.7 million, which was a record at the time.The Merc With the Mouthproved to be incredibly consistent over its opening weekend, with a Saturday tally of $42.5 million and a Sunday tally of $42.6 million, with the movie also falling over a four-day President’s Day holiday weekend.
Deadpool 2also has the advantage ofcoming between Marvel’s blockbuster Avengers: Infinity War, whose three-week box office reign this sequel will likely end this weekend, and Disney’sSolo: A Star Wars Story. While this likely means thatDeadpool 2will likely have a short reign at the top, withSolo: A Star Wars Story projected to take in $170 millionover the four-day Memorial Day holiday weekend,Solodoesn’t have any other direct competition that weekend, which could bode well for a stronger-than-expected second weekend forDeadpool 2.
Deadpool 2does have some direct competition this weekend, in the form of two comedies, Global Road’sShow Dogs, opening in 3,145 theaters, and Paramount’sBook Club, debuting in just 2,781 theaters. Neither of these movies are expected to give the Merc With the Mouth much competition at the box office this weekend, but since they’re both aimed at vastly different audiences, they could still do fairly well, despite not having a chance at topping the box office going againstDeadpool 2.Deadlinebroke the news onDeadpool 2’s Thursday box office record this morning.
