‘Deadpool 2’ joins superhero domination at the box office
LOS ANGELES: ‘Avengers: Infinity War’ is already one of the top-grossing films of all time, while ‘Black Panther’ is the topgrossing superhero pic of all time domestically.
Over the May 18-20 weekend, ‘Deadpool 2’ debuted to US$301 million (RM1.2 billion) globally, joining the unprecedented domination that superhero pics are enjoying at the 2018 worldwide box office.
Put another way, the sequel — returning Ryan Reynolds as the sassy, irreverent Merc with the Mouth — has already outgrossed the entire lifetime runs of such 2018 titles as ‘Pacific Rim Uprising’ (US$288.5 million) and ‘Tomb Raider’ (US$273.2 million). And ‘Deadpool 2’ will soon overtake the likes of ‘Rampage’ (US$406.9 million) and other 2018 entries that have failed to break out in a major way.
Revenue to date for ‘Avengers: Infinity War’, ‘Black Panther’ and ‘Deadpool 2’ account for 31 per cent of all 2018 domestic boxoffice revenue, and 57 per cent of revenue generated worldwide by the top 10 Hollywood titles.
For example, Hollywood studio superhero titles accounted for 14 per cent of domestic revenue last year and, in 2016, 15 per cent.
Part of the reason that superhero fare is dominating so far this year is the failure of other 2018 event films to take off, including Disney’s ‘A Wrinkle in Time’ (US$128 million).
Nor did anyone foresee just how enormous ‘Black Panther’ and ‘Infinity War’, both from the Disney and Marvel Studios empire, would be.
‘Black Panther’, opening in February and quickly transforming into a cultural phenomenon, has earned US$1.343 billion at the worldwide box office. That includes US$697.8 million domestically, the thirdbiggest showing of all time behind ‘Star Wars: The Force Awakens’ (US$936.7 million) and ‘Avatar’ (US$760.5 million).
Hitting cinemas on Apr 27, ‘Infinity War’ has earned US$1.813 billion to date to become the number four title of all time at the global box office, not adjusted for inflation (this is the first year when any two superhero films grossed US$1 billion or more). Like ‘Black Panther’, ‘Infinity War’ has shattered numerous records, including landing the top domestic opening of all time (US$257.7 million).
The superhero genre will get some serious competition in the coming weeks and months as films like ‘Solo: A Star Wars Story’ (May 25) and ‘Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom’ hit cinemas, but the 2018 slate of superhero pics is hardly spent. There’s ‘The Incredibles 2’ (June 15), ‘Ant-Man and the Wasp’ (July 6), ‘Venom’ (Oct 5), ‘Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Wise’ and ‘Aquaman’ (Dec 21).
From 20th Century Fox, ‘Deadpool 2’ debuted to US$125 million domestically, the third biggest opening of the year so far behind ‘Infinity War’ and ‘Black Panther’ (US$202 million).
While ‘Deadpool 2’ didn’t quite match the US$132.4 million domestic debut of the first ‘Deadpool’ in February 2016 and set a new record for best R-rated opening, the reverse was true overseas. The sequel debuted to US$176 million overseas, ahead of the first ‘Deadpool’ and the biggest international launch in history for an R-rated film.
‘Deadpool 2’ also delivered Fox its biggest international debut in history. And in the US, the two ‘Deadpool’ pics represent Fox’s biggest box-office openings ever.
“For an R-rated flick, US$125 million is just ridiculously good. It just goes to show you how Fox hit the cultural lightning rod the first time out,” says box-office analyst Jeff Bock of Exhibitor Relations. “They woke up up a massive contingent of PG-13 superhero fans that weren’t quite ready for what hit them with the first ‘Deadpool’. The love-fest was on, and word-of-mouth spread like wildfire. ‘Deadpool 2’ is more of the same.”