Deadpool has really defied expectations. Getting the movie green-lit was always a challenge, but finally happened after test footage of Ryan Reynolds in character leaked online. Reynolds' first outing as the Merc with a Mouth - or more the Merc without a Mouth - in X-Men Origins: Wolverine - and its weak reception likely contributed to that, which makes it all the more fitting that Deadpool openly makes jokes about that movie in his new solo adventure.
Apart from giving the character another chance, 20th Century Fox also allowed Deadpool to be R-rated, immediately cutting out the most obvious audience demographic for superhero movies: children. Despite someReynolds has unfortunately declined.
Now, The ion of the Christ at the domestic box office.
There's been much in the way of discussion about how Deadpool became such a sizable box office hit. Studios may already be jumping on the R-rating factor, to the extent that its possibly nailed down the decision to have released in theaters with an R Rating. Of course, although its popularity can no doubt be attributed in part to its raunchy humor and mature violence, those weren't the only factors that contributed to Deadpool's commercial success.
Another was the movie's 'edginess' in risking to try something different, with its fourth-wall breaking antics and send-up of superhero movies and their tropes in general. And even then the movie's writers claim Deadpool 2 will eventually be crowned the ultimate R-rated comic book movie king?
NEXT: Deadpool Easter Eggs & X-Men References
Deadpool is now in theaters. X-Men: Apocalypse will hit theaters on May 27, 2016; Gambit sometime in 2017; Wolverine 3 on March 3, 2017; and an unannounced X-Men film on July 13, 2018. The New Mutants and Deadpool 2 currently do not have official release dates.
Source: Box Office Mojo