“Batman v Superman: Dawn Of Justice” has obviously sucked up the entire conversation around movies and entertainment this week. It’s a gigantic blockbuster, it’s been met with very negative reviews and has created a toxic fan vs. critics narrative, reminiscent of the present political climate. The film did huge box-office business, $420 million worldwide —the fourth highest global opening ever— but it also had the worst Friday-to-Sunday drop (-55%) for a superhero movie ever, which means that a so-so "B" CinemaScore may be revealed as the movie’s Kryptonite weakness at the North American box-office for the long haul.
But what about the superhero movie released earlier this year that made a huge amount of noise with its surprise smash opening? In the background of all the ‘Batman v Superman’ cacophony, “Deadpool” has hit the $745.7 million mark worldwide, eclipsing “The Matrix” to become the highest grossing R-rated film of all time. Domestically, “Deadpool” is still third in this race: The 20th Century Fox super/anti-hero film has currently earned $349.3 million, and the reigning box-office R-rated champ stateside is “The Passion of the Christ,” with $370.7 million. And while "Deadpool" is expected to surpass “American Sniper” ($350 million) for the number two slot, that number one slot looks like it will remain out of reach. But that worldwide record is nothing to sneeze at.
Plus, “Deadpool” is a hair’s breath from becoming the highest-grossing “X-Men” film of all time worldwide. The movie has already pulled off this feat domestically by a gigantic margin —its haul of $349.3 million has passed “X-Men: The Last Stand” by $115 million. And globally, “Deadpool” sits at $745.7 million —just $2.2 million away from surpassing “X-Men: Days Of Future Past” for the worldwide title of highest-grossing X-film ever. Considering ‘Days Of Future Past’ is Fox’s equivalent of the "The Avengers," and “Deadpool” was seen as a second/third tier character comparatively, this is an amazing feat.
“Deadpool” is currently slowing down at the box-office, thanks to films like “Zootopia” and ‘Batman v Superman’ taking up the interest of most theatergoers these days. But it might have enough juice in the tank to possibly crawl to the $800 million worldwide mark that some early prognostications pegged it for. That’s not certain, but for a film that cost a fraction of ‘Batman v Superman,’ it’s a safe to say “Deadpool” is easily going to be 2016’s most profitable superhero film. Don’t forget that “Deadpool” didn’t screen in China, nor was it converted for 3D, which could have easily added another $75 million to its worldwide total. ‘Batman v Superman’ may be dominating the conversation online right now, but if Warner Bros. wants the film to be a worldwide success, it’s got to overcome that troubling Friday-Sunday drop from this weekend. The studio surely hopes that the international market continues to do that 60%+ of the share heavy lifting. Keep an eye for the second and third week drops as some are already predicting, perhaps prematurely, that ‘BvS’ may not reach the figure that $350 million figure “Deadpool” has grossed at home. [Forbes]
4/3/1/5 Update: "Deadpool" has hit $754.4 million worldwide becoming the highest-grossing "X-Men"-related film ever.