Break out the chimichangas -- with $135 million at the box office in its first three days, the R-rated Deadpool has not only smashed all Presidents' Day weekend records, but it also now holds the record for highest R-rated opening ever. And not just by a little, either. The previous R-rated record holder belonged to The Matrix Reloaded ($91 million), which was a summer release.
That makes Deadpool's record $135 million all the more special, as no film has ever snagged those kinds of numbers in February. Heck, no February film has ever managed to open to $100 million, period. And with Monday being a holiday, box office experts expect Deadpool to reach upwards of $150 million for the four-day when all is said and done.
Other major achievements for Deadpool:
-- Largest opening weekend ever for Fox, topping Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith.
-- Largest opening ever for star Ryan Reynolds.
-- Speaking of Reynolds, who once starred as the DC hero Green Lantern, Deadpool beat out the entirety of Green Lantern's worldwide gross in only three days.
-- Deadpool also marks the largest opening weekend for a first time director (Tim Miller).
So what does this all mean? Will every superhero movie from now on come with an R rating?
No, not quite. Disney won't make an R-rated superhero movie, so you can count out Marvel Studios and any character associated with the Avengers. But we expect Fox to go all in on an R-rated cinematic universe, though for starters they'll probably stick to movies that revolve around Deadpool -- like the already-announced Deadpool sequel and possibly even an X-Force movie, too.
This is a big deal for the superhero genre, and for 2016 in general as it represents a year where studios will take bigger risks with their comic properties. The big question now is... will Fox tweak any of the X-Men properties with a higher rating? Perhaps Wolverine 3?
What do you think?