Box Office: 'Deadpool' Makes History With $132.7M Weekend, Colossal $150M Holiday

'Deadpool'

Joe Lederer/Twentieth Century Fox

Ryan Reynolds' R-rated superhero movie is obliterating numerous records over the long Valentine's Day/Presidents Day weekend, while it opens to a resounding $132.1 million overseas for a global bow of $282.1 million; 'Zoolander 2' stumbles.

In a sea change for Hollywood's go-to genre — comic book adaptations — Ryan Reynolds' very R-rated and irreverent Deadpool grossed a record-breaking $132.7 million over the three-day Valentine's Day/Presidents Day weekend, one of the best showings of all time for a superhero movie and shattering all expectations.

The Marvel-branded Deadpool is an enormous victory for Fox and Reynolds, who spent more than a decade convincing the studio to let him make the X-Men spinoff his way, i.e., with a hard R rating. Fox finally said yes but kept the budget at a relatively modest $58 million. Every other studio superhero movie in recent times has been rated PG-13 and cost much more; Deadpool alters the game. It also catapults Reynolds to major stardom, much as Iron Man reinvigorated Robert Downey Jr.'s career.

For the four-day holiday weekend, Deadpool earned a colossal $150 million, a Presidents Day best that beats the $93 million grossed a year ago by sensation Fifty Shades of Grey (official four-day estimates will be released Monday morning, so it's possible the final number could come in higher). Among other North American records broken, Deadpool boasts the biggest R-rated opening of all time, the biggest opening for the month of February and the top opening in history for Fox. It's also the biggest debut for a first-time feature director (Tim Miller).