Deadpool kills at the weekend box office with record-breaking $150M debut

Deadpool, the new film based on the Marvel Comics character of the same name, blew away expectations and records with a staggering opening over the weekend.

The movie opened Friday, Feb. 12, and its total for the four-day Presidents Day weekend is estimated at $150 million. That easily surpasses the previous Presidents Day record-holder, 2015's Fifty Shades of Grey, which opened with $93.01 million over four days.

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Box office estimates peg Deadpool's Friday-Sunday haul at $132.75 million, making it the 17th-largest opening weekend of all time and the highest-grossing debut ever for an R-rated film. That's 47 percent higher than the previous record-holder, The Matrix Reloaded, which pulled in $91.77 million during its opening weekend in May 2003. Deadpool also destroyed Fifty Shades of Grey's $85.17 million three-day debut, breaking that film's record for the all-time highest-grossing February opening weekend.

These aren't the first records for Deadpool. The movie's Thursday night screenings hinted at its weekend success, pulling in $12.7 million — good for the all-time Thursday night record for an R-rated film (beating The Hangover Part 2's $10.4 million haul in May 2011). Deadpool's distributor, 20th Century Fox, revised opening-weekend expectations upward from $60 million to $70 million following the impressive Thursday night totals. In other words, the film brought in more than double its anticipated weekend gross.

Fox reportedly greenlit a sequel to Deadpool before the film even premiered. The follow-up is said to feature the same creative team as the original, including director Tim Miller. For more on Deadpool, check out our review.