Deadpool has launched to a box office record breaking total of $150 million in the US and $265 million worldwide. The previous record for President’s Day weekend was set by Fifty Shades of Grey which opened at $93 million.

Deadpool was stuck in development for over 10 years until the test footage was leaked online two years ago. Fans bombarded 20th Century Fox with messages that forced them to green light the project. Before this film, Deadpool was last seen in X-Men Origins: Wolverine where he received a negative reception partly due to the fact his mouth was sewn shut.

Generally, superhero movies are given a PG-13 (12A) rating to appeal to all ages and to maximise box office returns. Fox saw an R rated superhero movie as a huge risk so they forced the creative team behind Deadpool to cut the budget as far as possible – $7 million was cut in two days making the budget only $58 million.

Even with such a low budget, Deadpool’s opening weekend total is higher than the original Spider-Man, Man of Steel and X-Men: The Last Stand. This is even more impressive considering that the film was banned in China – the second largest market in the world.

Before the film was released, Fox were so impressed with the way it was testing with audiences that they greenlit the sequel.

Some of the records the film has already achieved are:

• #1 opening weekend ($132.75M) ever in Fox history
• #1 opening weekend ever for an R-rated film
• #1 February opening weekend
• #1 Winter opening weekend
• #2 opening weekend ever for an original Marvel property title
• #5 opening weekend ever for a Marvel property title

Source: BoxOfficeMojo

James Gunn has posted a rant on Facebook about studio executives taking the wrong messages from Deadpool’s success, he said studios should learn that audiences crave originality and that they shouldn’t be trying to make lots of films like Deadpool.

After every movie smashes records people here in Hollywood love to throw out the definitive reasons why the movie was a hit. I saw it happen with Guardians. It “wasn’t afraid to be fun” or it “was colorful and funny” etc etc etc. And next thing I know I hear of a hundred film projects being set up “like Guardians,” and I start seeing dozens of trailers exactly like the Guardians trailer with a big pop song and a bunch of quips. Ugh.

Deadpool wasn’t that. Deadpool was its own thing. THAT’S what people are reacting to. It’s original, it’s damn good, it was made with love by the filmmakers, and it wasn’t afraid to take risks