Deadpool is a 2016 American
superhero film based on the
Marvel Comics character
of the same name. It is the eighth installment of the
X-Men film series, and is directed by
Tim Miller. Written by
Rhett Reese and
Paul Wernick, the film stars
Ryan Reynolds,
Morena Baccarin,
Ed Skrein,
T. J. Miller,
Gina Carano,
Brianna Hildebrand, and
Stefan KapiÄiÄ. In
Deadpool, Wade Wilson hunts the man who gave him an accelerated healing factor, but also a scarred physical appearance.
Development of a Deadpool film began in February 2004 with
New Line Cinema. However, in March 2005, New Line put the film in
turnaround and
20th Century Fox became interested. In May 2009, after Reynolds portrayed the character in
X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Fox lent the film to writers, and in April 2011, Miller was hired for his
directorial debut.
CGI test footage created by Miller and Reynolds was leaked in July 2014
to an enthusiastic response, leading to Fox greenlighting the film that
September. Additional casting began in early 2015, and principal
photography took place in
Vancouver,
Canada, from March to May. Visual effects were provided by multiple
vendors, and ranged from the addition of blood and gore to the creation
of the completely computer generated character
Colossus.
Deadpool premiered in Paris on February 8, 2016, and was released on February 12, 2016, in North America in
IMAX,
DLP,
D-Box
and premium large formats. The film has broken numerous box office
records and generally received positive reviews; it became the
highest-grossing
R-rated comic book film and the
highest grossing film of 2016,
while critics praised Reynolds' performance, the humor, and the action
sequences, but criticized the plot as formulaic. A sequel has been
greenlit.
Plot
Wade Wilson is a former
special forces operative who works as a mercenary in New York City. He meets escort
Vanessa Carlysle
at a local bar and they become romantically attached. One year later,
Wade proposes to her and she accepts, but he suddenly collapses. Wade is
diagnosed with terminal cancer and though Vanessa remains by his side,
he does not want her to watch him die.
A recruiter from a secret program approaches Wade, offering an
experimental cure for his cancer. Although Wade initially refuses, he
decides to leave Vanessa and undergo the procedure. At a laboratory,
Wade meets
Ajax and
Angel Dust,
whom he instantly resents. Ajax injects Wade with a serum designed to
awaken latent mutant genes, then has him subjected to days of torture to
induce stress and trigger the mutation without success. Wade discovers
Ajax's real name, Francis Freeman, and mocks him. In response, Ajax
straps Wade into an airtight chamber which raises and lowers the oxygen
level to keep Wade constantly on the verge of asphyxiation - leaving him
over the weekend but not before Ajax reveals to Wade their true
purpose: to make super-powered slaves to be sold to wealthy customers.
While inside the chamber, Wade develops a healing factor that cures his
cancer but leaves him severely disfigured as a side-effect. He escapes
from the chamber and attacks Ajax, but relents when told that his
disfigurement can be cured. Ajax subdues Wade, impales him with a rebar
and leaves him for dead in the burning laboratory.
Wade survives the ordeal and attempts to return to Vanessa, but is
afraid of her suffering because of his appearance, and stays away from
her. After consulting his best friend
Weasel,
Wade decides to hunt down Ajax and have his disfigurement cured. He
becomes a masked vigilante, takes the alias "Deadpool", and moves into
the home of an elderly blind woman named
Blind Al.
Following a string of leads, Deadpool tracks down Ajax to a convoy of
cars on an expressway. He kills all the escorts, corners Ajax and
demands a cure to his disfigurement. The confrontation is interrupted by
two
X-Men,
Colossus and
Negasonic Teenage Warhead,
who have been trying to recruit Deadpool to join them. Taking advantage
of the distraction, Ajax escapes. Colossus handcuffs Wade to his wrist
and begins dragging him away, planning to take him to
Professor Xavier back at the
X-Mansion. Deadpool cuts off his hand and escapes. His hand slowly regenerates overnight.
Ajax goes to Weasel's bar and learns about Vanessa. Weasel calls Wade
and tells him Vanessa is in danger. Wade goes to the strip club where
she works but hesitates before he can face her. In response, Ajax
kidnaps Vanessa. He and Angel Dust tell Deadpool to meet them on a
decommissioned
helicarrier in a scrapyard.
Deadpool convinces Colossus and Negasonic to help him, and the trio
takes a cab to the scrapyard. While Colossus and Negasonic battle Angel
Dust and several minions, Deadpool fights his way through Ajax's
henchmen, and eventually engages him. After Angel Dust defeats Colossus,
Negasonic attacks her, but accidentally destroys the equipment holding
the helicarrier upright. As the helicarrier tips over, Colossus carries
Negasonic and Angel Dust to safety, while Deadpool saves Vanessa. Ajax
survives and attacks Deadpool, but is subdued and reveals there is no
cure for Wade's disfigurement. Despite objections from Colossus,
Deadpool kills Ajax. Vanessa is angered that Wade left her, but still
loves him. She accepts him, and they reconcile by kissing.
In a post-credits scene, Wade tells the audience that the film is over and announces a sequel featuring
Cable.
Cast
(L-R) Tim Miller, Reynolds, Baccarin, T. J. Miller, Hildebrand, Skrein, and Carano speaking at the 2015
San Diego Comic-Con
- A mercenary who is subjected to an experimental regenerative
mutation to cure his cancer, which gives him accelerated healing
superpowers, but severely scars his body. Reynolds called this version
of Deadpool more "authentic" and closer to the comic version than his X-Men Origins: Wolverine version,[5][6] saying that this Deadpool "takes nothing seriously."[7]
- An escort and Wilson's girlfriend.[8][9]
Baccarin described her as "scrappy, she’s not worried about her hair
and her nails or messing around. She gets down and dirty and she’s not a
victim, she’s not a damsel in distress.
It actually even says that in some of the fighting, she’s like 'I can
take care of myself and if you think I’m just gonna sit here and scream
so you can come and rescue me, you’re wrong.'"[10]
- An artificially-mutated member of Weapon X, the program that creates Deadpool.[11] Ajax is a weapons expert, with enhanced strength and an inability to feel pain.[12] According to Tim Miller, Skrein did '80%' of his own stunts, with stunt doubles only used for rigged stunts.[13]
- An artificially-mutated member of Weapon X, who possesses superhuman levels of strength, stamina and speed.[16]
Carano was given "some room to play with" the characterization of Angel
Dust, and said that the "character trusts Ajax with everything. She
pretty much only really responds to him. He...kinda created me and
showed me everything. And I do the same thing to everyone else."[17]
- A teenage X-Men trainee, who possesses the mutant power to detonate atomic bursts from her body.[18]
The writers chose to use the character based on her name, and changed
her abilities from telepathic and precognitive powers to "a literal
warhead because we thought it was funnier." To do this, they required
permission from Marvel, with Miller talking directly with Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige to do so.[19]
- An X-Man with the mutant ability to transform his entire body into organic steel. The role was originally offered to Daniel Cudmore, who played the character in X2, X-Men: The Last Stand, and X-Men: Days of Future Past, but he declined.[13] Instead, Colossus became a performance by several actors: KapiÄiÄ provided the voice;[20] Andre Tricoteux provided the on-set performance;[21] T. J. Storm provided the final body motion performance;[21] motion capture supervisor Greg LaSalle provided the final facial performance;[22] and Glenn Ennis was used as "the inspiration for the chiseled jaw look behind the character".[21]
Additionally,
Leslie Uggams portrays
Blind Al, an elderly blind woman and Deadpool's roommate;
[23] Jed Rees portrays a Weapon X recruiter;
[13] and
Karan Soni portrays Dopinder, a taxi driver.
[24] X-Men co-creator
Stan Lee and Deadpool co-creator
Rob Liefeld make cameo appearances as a strip club MC and a patron of Weasel's bar, respectively.
[25][26] Rob Hayter briefly appears as
Bob, a recurring character alongside Deadpool's comic appearances.
[26] The film does not reference Bob's comic history as an agent of
Hydra, due to rights issues with Marvel Studios.
[27]
Production
Development
"There's definitely a sort of overall plan that we've all been talking about for the X-Men
universe now, and Deadpool obviously fits into that. So yeah, I guess I
would say it's part of certainly an overall timeline and thought
process that goes into these films."
Artisan Entertainment announced a deal with
Marvel Entertainment to coproduce, finance, and distribute a film based on
Deadpool in May of 2000,
[29] while
New Line Cinema attempted to produce a Deadpool film in February 2004, with
David S. Goyer working on the script and
Ryan Reynolds in the title role;
[30][31]
Reynolds became interested in the character after discovering that
Deadpool refers to his own appearance as "Ryan Reynolds crossed with a
Shar-Pei" in
Cable & Deadpool.
[32][33] By August, Goyer lost interest in favor of other projects.
[34] In March 2005, after New Line put
Deadpool in
turnaround, 20th Century Fox became interested in the project.
[35]
Fox began moving on a
Deadpool spin-off early in the development of
X-Men Origins: Wolverine, which had Reynolds as Deadpool in its cast,
[30] and after the opening weekend success of that film announced that it was lending
Deadpool out to writers, with
Lauren Shuler Donner producing the project.
[36] Donner wanted the film to
reboot the character of Deadpool, ignoring the version in
X-Men Origins: Wolverine and including attributes that the character has in the comics, such as breaking the
fourth wall.
[37] Rhett Reese and
Paul Wernick were hired to write the script in January 2010,
[38] and in a month an early draft leaked online,
[39] garnering a positive response from fans that prompted Fox to grant a small budget for test footage.
[40] Robert Rodriguez was sent another early draft of the screenplay in June 2010,
[41] but negotiations fell through, and
Tim Miller was eventually hired as director, in April 2011.
[42] Adam Berg was also in the running to direct at one point.
[43]
In July 2014, the test footage for the film, which had been created
with visual effects in 2012 and starred Reynolds through motion capture,
was leaked online.
[45] Blur Studio, the company that created the test footage, subsequently released it officially.
[46] The footage received an overwhelmingly enthusiastic response online,
[45] and in September 2014, Fox gave
Deadpool a release date of February 12, 2016.
[47] Kinberg confirmed a month later that
Deadpool would be part of the
X-Men shared cinematic universe.
[48]
Over the years of development, Reese and Wernick wrote additional
versions of the script, including a PG-13 version. Reese felt that
ultimately, "about seventy percent" of the initial draft ended up in the
final film.
[49] Changes during rewrites include the removal of the Marvel characters
Garrison Kane and
Cannonball from the film, due to budgetary concerns over the required
CGI for his cybernetic arms, and the perception of a "stupid
hick character", respectively.
[13] Wyre, initially an additional villain, was also cut,
[50] with the three replaced by
Angel Dust.
[51] Plans to have the Marvel superhero
Cable appear were halted when it was decided that he would work better in a potential sequel.
[50]
Reynolds "100 percent" attributed Fox's greenlighting of the film for
production to the test footage leak, stating, after being asked who had
leaked it, "I would have, if I had known it would have caused
that!...Now, we get to make the movie. We don’t get to make it with the
budget of most superhero movies, but we get to make it the way we want
to make it".
[52] Reese admitted that about $7 million was deducted from the budget ostensibly last-minute, forcing further rewrites.
[51] Miller, who made his
directorial debut with
Deadpool,
[42]
has been credited by both Reynolds and motion capture supervisor Greg
LaSalle with making efficient use of the budget, for example waiting to
work on the CGI for
Colossus until after the film was edited, cutting down on the cost of post-production.
[53][54]
Pre-production
In December 2014, Reynolds was confirmed to reprise his role as Wade Wilson / Deadpool.
[55] The next month,
T. J. Miller and
Ed Skrein were in talks to appear in the film;
[56] in February 2015,
Gina Carano was cast as
Angel Dust, Miller was confirmed for an unspecified role, and so was
Morena Baccarin.
[8][16] Taylor Schilling,
Crystal Reed,
Rebecca Rittenhouse,
Sarah Greene, and
Jessica De Gouw were also considered for Baccarin's role.
[57] In March, Miller's role was revealed to be
Weasel,
[15] while Baccarin's was revealed to be
Vanessa Carlysle.
[9][58] Brianna Hildebrand was cast as
Negasonic Teenage Warhead,
[18] and a month later Skrein revealed that he would play
Ajax.
[12] Leslie Uggams revealed she would portray
Blind Al in July,
[23] and Tim Miller revealed that
Jed Rees would portray the Recruiter in August.
[13] Stefan KapiÄiÄ voiced
Colossus,
[20] replacing
Daniel Cudmore, who played the character in previous
X-Men films. Cudmore was asked to return for
Deadpool, but declined as his voice was always intended to be replaced.
[13][59]
Talking about the make-up used to depict the scarring on Wilson's
body, Tim Miller said, "There was some discussion about how horrible we
could make it, and I firmly planted my flag in 'fucking horrible',
because if it isn't, nobody's going to excuse him for being such a dick
and being so angry. If it's just a few scars we’re not going to have any
sympathy for him. To Fox's credit they were like, 'Go for it.' But that
said, we didn't want to make him a zombie, which some of the comics go
pretty far with. I'm all for authenticity but you can’t have a main
character who's leaking pus. You don't want to see inside his mouth when
he's chewing, that's a bridge too far. I think he looks suitably
hideous. And that's not the only stage of the make-up: when we first see
him in the workshop it's pretty raw." Elaborating on the initial
make-up scene in the workshop, Miller stated that it took 6 hours to
apply Reynolds' full-body make-up.
[13]
Also, visual effects supervisor Jonathan Rothbart discussed the
practical costume created for Deadpool, noting that it was difficult to
replicate later in CGI for the visual effects: "The costume is made of
this mesh so all the dirt would get into the gutters and the cracks and
crevices of the costume. Then all the ridges of the mesh would stay nice
and clean, so anytime sun would be on it and the light hits it, it
still takes that orangey hue but as soon as it goes in the shadow it
dropped to this more blueish of the dirt."
[21]
Filming
Martial artist Philip J. Silvera in costume on the set of
Deadpool in Vancouver, April 2015.
[60]
Principal photography commenced on March 23, 2015, in
Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada,
[61] and ended on May 29, 2015.
[62]
Ken Seng served as director of photography on the film, while Robert
Alonzo and Philip Silvera supervised and coordinated the film's stunts,
respectively.
[21] The production hired over 2,000 local people as actors, extras, and crew members.
[63]
Reynolds stated that inspiration for the fight between Deadpool and
Ajax in the latter's laboratory came from the sauna showdown in
David Cronenberg's
Eastern Promises.
[64]
Post-production
Visual effects for
Deadpool were produced by
Digital Domain, Atomic Fiction, Blur Studio,
Weta Digital,
Rodeo FX,
Luma Pictures, and
Image Engine.
While the vendors mostly worked on individual areas of the film, there
was some collaboration, particularly in the final battle sequence which
takes place in the wreckage of a helicarrier, and in which Luma created
the climactic fight between Deadpool and Ajax; Digital Domain created
the majority of the Colossus effects, except for when he is damaged
later on, for which he was created by Blur Studio; Digital Domain also
created the effects for Negasonic Teenage Warhead's abilities as well as
parts of the deck of the helicarrier; Rodeo contributed
matte paintings
for the background; and Weta provided the facial animation for
Deadpool. Additionally, when Deadpool is stabbed in the head during the
fight and hallucinates "cartoon characters that dance around his face",
Miller found a "French animation artist who had a unique style and did
all the 2D work" which the visual effects team then composited into the
shots.
[21][65]
For the earlier freeway battle, expanded from the similar sequence in
the test footage, Atomic Fiction created a freeway environment with a
city backdrop, based on plates shot in
Detroit, along with all the vehicles, with vehicle interiors and some character actions filmed on a greenscreen stage. Elements of
Chicago
and Vancouver were also included in the city environment, while some of
the live-action stunts filmed for the sequence include a stuntman lying
on a treadmill to simulate being dragged by a vehicle, and stuntmen
riding greenscreen rigs to simulate the riding of motorcycles. For the
film's opening title sequence, Blur Studio used assets from Atomic to
create "a constant pullback inside the car that reveals all the thugs
Deadpool is fighting, and he’s pulling a wedgie on one of the guys,
putting his fingers into the eyes of another dude." The sequence is
described as an "85 second full CG frozen moment mid-freeway crash
that’s populated with such titles as ‘Directed by an overpaid tool’ and
‘Produced by asshats’".
[21]
Concerning Colossus, Miller felt, as a fan of the comics' character,
that the "dude with the shiny skin" from the previous X-Men films was
"not fucking Colossus...He should be this monstrous guy, and they
actually let me ['change the look of him' and] make him seven-and-a-half
feet tall."
[13]
Digital Domain ultimately created the completely CGI character using
the facial performance of motion capture supervisor Greg LaSalle and the
body motion performance of T. J. Storm, replacing on-set performer
Andre Tricoteux, who often "wore platform shoes or an extra hat-piece or
be on a platform to be even taller" meaning "he couldn't move too
athletically", especially during fight sequences. For the character's
metallic finish, the visual effects team sought out specific reference
to avoid making him look too "chromey", visiting a metal company with "a
whole bunch of different samples of different types of steels."
Cold rolled steel was settled on as the primary look, with the much darker
hot rolled steel
chosen for his hair. To keep Colossus's ridges and lines always
perfectly straight, as in the comic books, the animators were able to
move them rather than have them 'locked' to the animated model, which
was causing them to "get all squiggly and strange" as the character
moved. Digital Domain's Colossus asset was also used by Blur Studio, who
created the character for a scene in which he is in a
cab as well as providing the damaged version of the character for the final battle sequence.
[21]
Rather than animate every shot of Deadpool to show the character
"emoting", deemed necessary due to the amount of Reynolds' emotion
coming through the bottom of the Deadpool mask while a "solid shell" was
formed from the upper lip up (an effect described as 'chinwagging'),
which would not have been feasible considering the film's budget, Weta
Digital instead warped each shot of Deadpool based on facial references
provided by Reynolds, which was called an "ingenious 2D-ish solution".
Image Engine used a similar process for the film's promotional
materials. For the character's initial transformation, where a
"horrifying skin scar effect" is used, Rodeo FX referenced rotting fruit
and maggot-eaten meat. Rodeo also augmented the practical fire and
environment used in the sequence, with Rodeo FX visual effects
supervisor Wayne Brinton noting that rather than just layering on more
fire as the scene goes along, the vendor made more things burn, to show a
progression in the burning down of the building and to avoid the fire
looking "flat". Additionally, when the character rips off his burning
clothes, Rodeo added a CGI penis to Reynolds, which "wasn't meant to be
comedic - it was one of those things that's when it's there it looks so
natural that you don't even notice it. When it wasn't there it looked
really weird."
[21]
Deadpool relied heavily on practical, make-up, and digital
effects to create its R-rated blood and gore, with Luma Pictures one of
the main vendors responsible for this. Visual effects were used for the
more complex blood and gore, while footage of pressurized PVC piping
'spewing out' practical blood and gore was also composited into the film
for some sequences. For the scene where Deadpool cuts off his own hand,
Digital Domain did not want to be "outdone" by Luma, and so had
"buckets of blood pouring out". Luma also created the regrowing hand,
which was based on the hand of a fetus.
[21]
Music
Tom Holkenborg composed the score for
Deadpool,
using synthesizers made popular in the 80s that "were perceived as very
serious [at the time, but] now, in hindsight, when you play them back,
they’re very funny." For Deadpool's primary 'riffs', Holkenborg used an
ARP 2600 synth and a
Synclavier, while an
Oberheim
synthesizer was used for the more emotional scenes. A full orchestra
was used for the X-Men to give them a "noble" feeling and to honor the
previous X-Men films.
[66] The film's soundtrack also features several songs, including "Deadpool Rap" by
YouTube personalities TeamHeadKick, which was originally inspired by the 2013
Deadpool video game; the film version features updated lyrics which reference the events of the film rather than elements of the game.
[67] The soundtrack album was released digitally on February 12, 2016, and physically, through
Milan Records, on March 4, featuring both Holkenborg's score and songs from other artists that are used in the film.
[68]
Release
Deadpool made its world premiere at the
Grand Rex in Paris on February 8, 2016.
[69] Deadpool was released on February 10, 2016 in the United Kingdom and February 12, 2016 in North America.
[47][70] The film was released in various formats such as
IMAX,
DLP, premium large formats and
D-Box.
[71] However, it was denied a theatrical release in
China and
Uzbekistan due to its content, for violence, nudity and graphic language.
[72][73] In India, it received an "A" certificate by the
Central Board of Film Certification with some cuts.
[74] It opened Tuesday, February 9, in
Hong Kong, and in 7 additional markets on Wednesday, February 10, including the
United Kingdom and
Ireland,
France,
Taiwan, the
Philippines,
Belgium and
Singapore. 39 other markets, including
Australia,
Argentina and
Brazil, opened on Thursday, February 11, and 23 more markets bowed on Friday, February 12, including the United States and
Canada and
India.
[75] The film will open in
South Korea,
Italy,
Spain, and
Japan in the coming weekends.
[75]
Marketing
In July 2015, director Miller and several cast members attended the
2015 San Diego Comic-Con to present the trailer of the film, which
received a
standing ovation from attendees who requested that it be played again.
[76] Graeme McMillan of
The Hollywood Reporter opined that
Deadpool "looks like the first movie that talks to the fan audience in their own language", and praised the
meta humor of the trailer,
[77] while
Business Insider's
Joshua Rivera gave the trailer a positive review for being "faithful to
the source material", as well as for its humor and action.
[78]
In December 2015, Fox launched a
viral marketing
campaign titled "The 12 days of Deadpool", which consisted of one
website posting new info about the film each day, with the culmination
of a new trailer released on
Christmas Day.
[79] The general marketing campaign for the film has garnered a positive reaction in the media;
[80][81] two particular items noted as effective were a campaign to feign
Deadpool as a
Valentine's Day romance film,
[82] and a billboard only containing the
emoji "đđŠL" which journalists called "dumb, yet hilarious".
[83]
On January 19, 2016, two supposed screenings of yet unseen footage in
New York and Los Angeles turned out to be surprise screenings of the
entire film;
[84] Screen Rant noted that fan reactions to the film were "overwhelmingly positive".
[85]
Reception
Box office
As of March 14, 2016,
Deadpool has grossed $328.1 million in North America and $380 million in other territories for a worldwide total of $708.1million.
[4] Worldwide, it is the
highest-grossing film of 2016,
[86] the second highest-grossing R-rated film of all time, behind only
The Matrix Reloaded ($742 million),
[87] and the highest grossing 20th Century Fox film ever not directed by
James Cameron or
George Lucas.
[88]
It had a worldwide opening of $264.9 million from 62 markets, which is
the biggest of 2016, the biggest for an R-rated film, and the second
biggest for Fox, only behind
Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith ($303.9 million).
[89][90]
It continued to top the worldwide box office after adding $141.1
million from 78 markets which is down about 46.7% from its first
weekend.
[91] It recorded the biggest IMAX 2D worldwide opening of all time with $27.4 million from 606 IMAX theaters, eclipsing
The Dark Knight Rises ($23.8 million).
[92][93] It passed the $600 million mark in its third weekend.
[94]
North America
| [show]Deadpool box office records |
In the United States and Canada, pre-release tracking originally
suggested the film would open to $55–65 million from 3,557 theaters in
its opening weekend, and up to $75 million over the four-day
Presidents' Day weekend, outstripping the projections for fellow newcomers
Zoolander 2 and
How to Be Single. Tracking also showed that the film would do well with both males and females.
[100]
However, once the film approached its opening day, estimates rose to as
high as a $100+ million three-day opening, and going as high as a $120
million for the four-day opening.
[101][102] However, Fox was being conservative, projecting a three-day opening similar to other superhero movies such as
Guardians of the Galaxy ($94.3 million) and
Captain America: The Winter Soldier ($95 million).
[103] The film has the added benefit of playing across 374 IMAX screens and 475 premium large format screens.
[2] It made $12.7 million from its Thursday night previews from 2,975 theaters, setting records for the biggest
R-rated and February previews, beating
The Hangover Part II ($10.4 million) and
Fifty Shades of Grey ($8.6 million), respectively.
[104][105]
Of that, $2.3 million came from IMAX showings, for a per screen average
of $6,200, which is the sixth biggest IMAX preview ever.
[104] This broke the record for the biggest February IMAX preview and the biggest R-rated IMAX preview.
[105]
Buoyed by good
word of mouth,
it exceeded expectations on its opening day, earning $47.4 million,
breaking the records for the biggest R-rated opening day and the biggest
February opening day. It also became the biggest R-rated single day and
the second-biggest opening and single day ever for a 20th Century Fox
film, behind the $50 million Thursday debut of
Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith.
[106] 14% of its Friday gross came from PLF screens, which grossed $6.4 million, of which
Cinemark XD made $1.6 million.
[107] While typical fanboy films are frontloaded and witness a drop of at least a third in their second day,
Deadpool dropped just -10% on its second day, to $42.61 million,
[107] and rose +0.2% on its third day ($46.68 million.
[108]
Earning a total of $132.4 million in its opening weekend, it broke the
record for the biggest R-rated opening of all time, the biggest February
opening, the biggest opening for Fox, and the biggest opening of
Reynolds' career.
[109] PLF screens represented 13% or $17.6 million of that gross from 465 screens, a new record.
[107]
Furthermore, it scored the second biggest opening ever for the first
installment of a superhero property, behind Disney/Marvel's
The Avengers ($207.4 million), the second biggest non-sequel opening, behind
The Hunger Games ($152.5 million),
[110] or third biggest if Marvel's
The Avengers is included,
[111] the third biggest pre-summer season (which starts in May) opening, behind
The Hunger Games ($152.5 million) and
Furious 7 ($147.2 million),
[107] the fifth-biggest for a Marvel property film,
[112] the seventh-biggest comic book adpatations opening,
[113] and the eighth-biggest long holiday opening (irrespective of the number of days with four days in terms of
Deadpool).
[111] It became the 36th film to open above $100 million, and is the first R-rated film to do so.
[106]
It is also the earliest film in a year to open with over $100 million. The previous record holder
Alice in Wonderland opened with $116.1 million in the first weekend of March 2010.
[114] $18.4 million came from 374 IMAX plays, setting records for February as well as for R-rated openings.
[93][107]
Males comprised a bulk of the audience demographics during its opening
weekend, with 62%, while females comprised 38%, with 47% of the audience
being under the age of 25.
[93]
For its 4-day President's Day weekend, it earned $152.19 million,
breaking records for the biggest 4-day President's Day opening as well
as single weekend gross, breaking the $93 million made by
Fifty Shades of Grey in 2015.
[115] Its four-day holiday opening weekend alone made it the biggest R-rated comic book superhero movie (surpassing
Wanted), the biggest R-rated costumed superhero comic book movie (surpassing
Watchmen), and the second biggest R-rated comic book adaptation of all time (behind
300).
[111][113]
It also did exceptionally well in IMAX and premium large formats
screens, with 31% or $46.9 million (of the $152.1 million) coming from
the said formats. It earned around $27.4 million (18%) in IMAX and about
$19.5 million (13%) in PLF auditoriums.
[110]
Following its record breaking openings,
Deadpool scored the biggest February Monday by earning $19.76 million,
[116] and the biggest February Tuesday ever with $11.56 million (breaking
The Vow's record)
[116] and in just five days surpassed the lifetime total of
X-Men,
X-Men: First Class and
The Wolverine,
[117] and in one week surpassed
X-Men Origins: Wolverine.
[118]
On its ninth day of release, it passed the $200 million mark, becoming
the fastest R-rated film to cross that mark. By comparison, the previous
record holder
The Matrix Reloaded took 11 days.
[119][120][121] It topped the box office
for the second weekend
after falling by 57.4% to $56.4 million from 3,722 theaters (an
additional 164 theaters from its opening amount) and scored the
second-biggest second weekend gross for an R-rated film, only behind the
$64.6 million second weekend of
American Sniper.
[122] The 57.4% drop was in line with the 59.4% drop of
Avengers: Age of Ultron,
[122] and the 59.8% drop of
The Matrix Reloaded.
[123] In just ten days, it became the highest-grossing
X-Men film (surpassing
X-Men: The Last Stand) as well as becoming the highest-grossing R-rated comic book film of all-time (beating
300).
[122] By its second weekend,
Forbes reported that the film was on pace to dethrone
The Passion of the Christ ($370 million) as the highest-grossing R-rated film of all time as it was already $74.8 million ahead of
The Passion of the Christ.
[124]
It was able to top the box office for the third weekend in a row after
adding $31.5 million from 3,856 theaters (an additional 134 theaters
from its second weekend amount),
[125][126] before being dethroned by
Zootopia and
London Has Fallen in its fourth weekend.
[127][128]
On March 5, its twenty-third day of release, it became the third
R-rated film to pass $300 million in ticket sales and the fifty-seventh
film overall.
[129]
Outside North America
Outside North America,
Deadpool will be released in a total of 80 countries.
[75]
It began its international rollout on February 9 in Hong Kong and
expanded to 7 additional markets on February 10, where it earned $12
million.
[75] The Hollywood Reporter called it "no small feat" considering that it is the first Marvel superhero film to be rated R.
[130]
On its opening day – which varies among different countries – it had
the biggest Fox opening day ever for a 15-rated movie, the 5th highest
opening day for a Marvel film, the biggest IMAX Wednesday opening ever
(behind
Spectre) in the
United Kingdom and Ireland ($3.4 million),
[75] the biggest February opening of all time in
Australia ($2.1 million), the biggest Fox opening day ever, the biggest IMAX opening of all time in
Taiwan, with $1.4 million ($1.7 million including previews), Fox's biggest
Chinese New Year single day ever in
Hong Kong ($650,000), the biggest opening day ever for an R-rated film in the
Philippines ($357,000), the biggest superhero opening day ever in
Belgium ($270,000), and Fox's biggest opening day ever for an M18 rated film in
Singapore ($205,000).
[75]
Through Sunday, February 14, it earned an opening-weekend total of
$132.1 million from 61 countries (which is 80% of its total
international marketplace), and opened at No. 1 in 59 of them, with the
exceptions of Poland and Malaysia (behind
The Mermaid). It scored the second biggest R-rated international opening weekend of all time, only behind the $156 million opening of
Fifty Shades of Grey.
[131]
IMAX comprised $7.9 million of the weekend's gross from 232 IMAX
screens, with records set for the biggest February and R-rated openings
in numerous markets, including Hong Kong, Taiwan, the Netherlands,
Sweden, France, and the U.K.
[131]
It fell 47% in its second weekend, after adding 17 new markets for a
total of $84.7 million from 77 markets and opening at No. 1 in all the
newly added markets.
[91] It topped the box office outside of North America for three consecutive weekends,
[94] before slipping to No. 3 behind
Ip Man 3 and
Zootopia in its fourth weekend.
[132]
It had the biggest opening for the studio in 13 markets including
Australia, Taiwan, Brazil, Hong Kong, and Malaysia, the biggest R-rated
(or equivalent) opening weekend of all time in 11 markets, and the
biggest February opening in the United Kingdom, Ireland, and Australia.
[131]
Its highest international tallies were witnessed in the United Kingdom
and Ireland ($20.2 million), Russia ($13.1 million), South Korea ($11.9
million), Australia ($10.65 million), France ($8.9 million), Taiwan
($8.18 million), Germany ($7.3 million), Brazil ($6.3 million), Hong
Kong ($3.9 million), Spain ($3.87 million), Italy ($3.39 million) and
the Philippines ($3 million).
[91][131]
The biggest openings outside of the United States and Canada were
witnessed in the UK, Ireland and Malta, where it earned £13.73 million
($20.2 million) in its opening weekend from 543 screens, including £3.76
million ($5.3 million) from previews, which is the biggest debut ever
for a film released in February. This is on par with the £13.71 million
($19.5 million) opening of
Iron Man 3 in 2013.
[131][133]
In Russia and the CIS, it scored the biggest opening weekend of all
time, with $13.1 million on an estimated 1,119 screens, breaking the
previous record set by
Star Wars: The Force Awakens two months prior.
[131][134] It topped the UK,
[135] Germany, and Brazil box office for three consecutive weekends
[94] and Australian box office for four consecutive weekends.
[132]
In terms of total earnings, its largest markets are the UK and Ireland
($51.4 million), Australia ($27.8 million), France ($27.5 million),
South Korea ($22.4 million) and Germany ($22.6 million).
[136] It will next open in Japan on June 3, 2016.
[91]
Critical response
Deadpool received generally positive reviews from both critics and audiences.
[137][138][139][140][141][142][143] Review aggregator website
Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a rating of 84%, based on 240 reviews, with an
average rating of 6.9/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Fast, funny, and gleefully profane, the fourth-wall-busting
Deadpool subverts the superhero film formula with wildly entertaining – and decidedly non-family-friendly – results."
[144] Metacritic,
another review aggregator, assigned the film a weighted average score
of 65 out of 100, based on 49 critics, indicating "generally favorable
reviews".
[145] Audiences polled by
CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale.
[146]
PostTrak demographic polling of North American audiences showed that
the film's audience was 64% male. 90% of men and 86% of women polled
gave the film a positive score.
[147]
Peter Travers of
Rolling Stone said the film is "party time for action junkies" and that Reynolds may have found the role that defines his career.
[148] In his review for
TheWrap,
Alonso Duralde called
Deadpool "a funny, bloody comedy [that] is the Marvel Universe's biggest breath of fresh air since
Guardians of the Galaxy", praising it, among other things, for its self-aware wit.
[149] Christy Lemire also praised the film for being "beyond meta" and "up its ass and back out its own mouth again".
[150]
Conversely,
Richard Roeper of the
Chicago Sun-Times
gave the film 2.5 out 4 stars, praising Reynolds' performance but
saying the film gets bogged down by its origin story, and all too often
becomes like the films it spoofs.
[151] Kenneth Turan of the
Los Angeles Times
found the movie lacking, noting that protagonist "is not an individual
who wears particularly well" and that the jokes "eventually get wearing,
but Reynolds is quite good at [them]". He also commended Baccarin on
her performance but ultimately noted that the movie is "rife with
standard-issue elements."
[152]
In 2016,
The Hollywood Reporter ranked the film 13th on their "All 44 Marvel Movies Ranked Best to Worst" list.
[153]
Accolades
