The Merc with a Mouth returned to the big screen this weekend as 20th Century Fox unleashed the hotly-anticipated Deadpool 2, and while the sequel couldn’t quite match the opening of its 2016 predecessor, it has still managed a very impressive $301 million worldwide haul in its first weekend.
In North America, Deadpool 2 grossed $125 million to knock Avengers: Infinity War from the top of the chart, although this wasn’t enough to topple Deadpool 2’s $132.4 million, a record for an R-rated movie. Nevertheless, it’s still Fox’s second-biggest debut of all time, and the third biggest of the year behind Marvel’s Avengers: Infinity War and Black Panther.
The X-Men spinoff also delivered Fox’s best ever international opening with $176 million, beating the previous record of $174 million set by X-Men: Days of Future Past (which also included $38 million from China, where Deadpool 2 is yet to secure a release).
Deadpool 2 had been tracking an opening weekend of between $305 million to $350 million worldwide, so this is a rare occasion where a movie falls short of analysts’ predictions.
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Marvel’s motormouth mercenary is back! Bigger, better and occasionally more pantless than ever before. When a super soldier arrives on a murderous mission, Deadpool is forced to think about friendship, family and what it really means to be a hero – all while kicking 50 shades of ass. Because, sometimes, to do the right thing you need to fight dirty.
Deadpool 2 sees David Leitch (John Wick) directing a cast that includes returning stars Ryan Reynolds (Wade Wilson), Morena Baccarin (Vanessa), T.J. Miller (Weasel), Brianna Hildebrand (Negasonic Teenage Warhead), Stefan Kapicic (Colossus), Leslie Uggams (Blind Al) and Karan Soni (Dopinder) alongside new additions Zazie Beetz (Atlanta) as Domino, Josh Brolin (Avengers: Infinity War) as Cable, Terry Crews (Brooklyn Nine-Nine) as Bedlam, Lewis Tan (Iron Fist) as Shatterstar, Bill Skarsgard (It) as Zeitgeist, Rob Delaney (Catastrophe), Julian Dennison (Hunt for the Wilderpeople) as Russell, Jack Kesy (The Strain) as Black Tom Cassidy and Shioli Kutsuna (The Outsider) as Yukio.
Originally published May 20, 2018. Updated May 21, 2018.
