Deadpool arrived just in time to change superhero movies forever

When box office returns came in for Deadpool’s opening weekend on Feb. 12, 2016, producer Simon Kinberg at first thought there had been a mistake. Heading into the weekend the film was expected to open to $70M–$80M, but it debuted to $132M-plus and went on to gross $782 million against a $58 million budget, defying the long-held belief that an R-rated superhero movie would have limited appeal.

By 2016, modern superhero movies had run for about 15 years, beginning with 2000’s X-Men, and the MCU had demonstrated how to build a connected, blockbuster franchise that peaked with 2012’s $1.5 billion Avengers. Still, the era included notable misfires: DC’s Green Lantern, Sony’s Spider-Man 3 and several Fox efforts underperformed, and X-Men Origins: Wolverine in particular mishandled Deadpool by rendering the character mouthless and altering his powers, prompting Fox to relaunch the X-Men films.

deadpool, simon kinberg, opening weekend, r-rated, box office, $132m, $782m, x-men origins, mcu, avengers