‘Deadpool’ Box Office Likely To Hit Unexpected $1 Billion Mark

Deadpool box office numbers are in for week two, and the R-rated superhero film has held up surprisingly well, according to the figures from Box Office Mojo.

After dropping a worldwide take of $260 million in its opening weekend — on a budget of just $58 million — general audiences outside of Marvel Comics started to take notice.

The film’s mix of over-the-top comedy, sexuality, and graphic violence, have struck a chord with filmgoers, who have never picked up the character’s comic book.

After just 10 days in release, the Deadpool box office is now at almost double what it was in its smashing opening weekend (Feb. 12-14, $132 million).

On a global scale, Deadpool box office figures are at over $491 million. While the U.S. take is down 58.5 percent week-to-week, the film continues to score extremely well overseas.

With his film now in 50 markets internationally, Marvel’s black sheep character has racked up approximately $256.5 million, which accounts for around 52 percent of the overall take.

It has even beaten Star Wars: The Force Awakens in areas like Russia, according to MoviePilot.

Keep in mind that the film has only been in release for 10 days. That will likely secure it a strong third weekend as the rest of movie audiences decide to check it out to see what all the fuss is about.

If the Deadpool box office had to depend solely on U.S. audiences to crack $1 billion, then it would probably start to run out of steam after the Feb. 26-28 tally.

But stacked up against last week’s numbers, the foreign take has barely seen any drop-off. An extended run could very well place it in $1 billion territory on the shoulders of its foreign take. This follows an entirely different course from what you might see out of a typical superhero movie to reach the $1 billion mark.

A movie like The Avengers, for instance, has over half the hard part out of the way after its opening weekend. It also has more American support from the strong family-friendly crowd.

Deadpool, however, seems to be carving a different pathway.

Foreign audiences are more open to an R-rated superhero. That’s not to say that the red-and-black mutant isn’t doing well domestically, just that overseas offers him far greater potential to hit nine figures.

If that does happen, it would be unheard of in the sense that Iron Man and Iron Man 2 failed to hit that milestone. That would effectively make Ryan Reynolds to Deadpool what Robert Downey, Jr., was to Iron Man.

Translation: a fairly popular star connects to a semi-popular superhero and turns said character into a massive superhero franchise as recognizable as Batman, Superman, and Spider-Man.

In the process, Reynolds’ and Downey, Jr.’s, portrayals of the two characters elevate them to the top of the A-list.

It may be too early to chart that course for Reynolds, but given the Deadpool box office performance is much more massive than the original Iron Man, it’s possible.

Case in point, the original Iron Man sold 44.3 million tickets domestically in 155 days of release. The Deadpool box office numbers show that there have been 27 million tickets sold in one-fifteenth of the time.

That’s just in the U.S.

Again, those numbers come from Box Office Mojo.

When it comes to R-rated films, the Deadpool box office figure still has five other films that it has to top. Those include The Hangover Parts I and II (Nos. 4 and 5, respectively), The Matrix Reloaded (No. 3), American Sniper (No. 2), and The Passion of the Christ (No. 1).

What do you think, readers?

Will the Deadpool box office numbers be enough to top the five ahead of it and hit the $1 billion mark? Sound off in the comments section.

[Image via Deadpool screen grab]