Deadpool ($771,191,235)

UltimateMarvel wrote:You just had to post the green band trailer, Wylde. Shame on you!

Fanboys worldwide are agog with anticipation for the upcoming release of Fox's R-rated 'anti-superhero' movie Deadpool — it got the most rousing reception of any title previewed at Comic Con last year — but China's censors have taken a far less enthusiastic view of the film.

According to widespread local media reports, Deadpool, which was produced by 20th Century Fox and based on the Marvel comic book character, has been denied permission to screen in China due to its violence, nudity and graphic language.

A source close to the decision at China Film Group tells THR that the reports are indeed accurate. 
Directed by Tim Miller and starring Ryan Reynolds as the most foul-mouthed and self-aware superhero — or, anti-hero — in the Marvel catalog, Deadpool hits theaters stateside on Feb. 12. 

China's censorship authorities often work with the Hollywood studios to create cleaned-up special cuts of R-rated movies, but sources close to the Deadpool decision say it wasn't possible to excise the offending material without causing plot problems.

China has no ratings system, so the country's media regulator, the State Administration of Press, Publication, Radio, Film and Television (SAPPRFT), makes an up-down judgment on all film imports, approving or banning them for consumption by Chinese viewers of all ages.

Despite the film's more adult tone and content, many observers had predicted that Deadpool would find a way into the China market, thanks to the Marvel imprimatur.

Movies based on Marvel comic books have done huge business in China, which is now the world's second-largest theatrical market. Avengers: Age of Ultron grossed $240 million last summer, while more offbeat titles like Guardians of the Galaxy and Ant-Man grossed $96.4 million and $105.4 million, respectively.

UltimateMarvel wrote:Really? Is it the nudity? Because the violence I think they'd be ok with. Now I'm curious to how much nudity there will be in the movie.

ForeverBlu wrote:ROTFLMAO!

UltimateMarvel wrote:LOL!

And if it wasn't obvious to people who's side everyone is, it sure will be now.

Deadpool set the record for an R-rated Thursday preview and February preview last night with an evening gross of $12.7M at 2,975 theaters. In the record books that beats the $8.6M made by last year’s Fifty Shades of Grey, which was the previous February preview champ. That Universal title sat behind the previous R-rated preview champ, Hangover 2, which made $10.4M from midnight shows in 2011. In its first two days overseas in seven markets, Deadpool amassed $12M; so the Ryan Reynolds pic has already bagged over $25M worldwide.

Weekend four-day estimates for Deadpool currently sit at $60M-$65M at 3,557 theaters, however some non-Fox distribution executives have it much higher — like at $70M-$80M. Previous notable R-rated superhero/comic book film openings include Warner Bros. 300 ($70.9M) and Watchmen ($55.2M).

Deadpool‘s preview night on IMAX  pulled in $2.3M, for a per screen of $6,200.  That’s the best ever for an Imax February release or R-rated title; sixth biggest ever, ahead of Furious 7 and behind Iron Man 3.

If there’s any indication of how big Deadpool‘s opening might be, earlier this week, Fandango reported that the Marvel hero was the ticket firm’s top seller over the last two weeks, outstripping Ant-Man at the same point in their similar sales cycles. Yesterday, MovieTickets.com reported that close to 70% of its Wednesday ticket sales were for Deadpool. In a Fandango survey, 96% say that Deadpool is part of their weekend plans while 93% are excited that there’s an R-rated Marvel movie.

Valentine’s Day is the key day in terms of determining whether Deadpool clicks past $65M. It’s a girl’s choice day when it comes to moviegoing according to one industry tracker. Monday is a better kids day, than adults day.

20th Century Fox has created a number of edgy promos and events for the film. Of note, one sheet/banner ads have sold the film wryly as a romantic comedy tied to Valentine’s Day. Mike’s Harder Lemonade is a promo-partner and has been selling a series of collectible cans. Throughout this week, Deadpool took over five commercial free Viacom shows with integrated marketing running pre-and-post shows. The shows included during the campaign are MTV’s Teen Mom and Ridiculousness, Comedy Central’s Tosh.0, Workaholics and @Midnight With Chris Hardwick, VH1’s Love and Hip Hop, Logo’s Golden Girls and Spike’s Cops.

UltimateMarvel wrote:I don't know how much China is going to hurt it in the BO but I'm sure this will do very well regardless. I think it's time for Blade to return. If not a movie then maybe on Netflix.

Last year a flock of women flocked to watch wealthy S&M baron Christian Grey’s romantic exploits, making Universal’s Fifty Shades of Grey the biggest February opening of all-time with a $30.3M Friday and $93M four-day holiday weekend. This year, a different type of S&M-looking guy is breaking those records. According to industry estimates this morning, 20^th Century Fox’s Marvel superhero pic, Deadpool, thrashed Fifty Shades’ Friday figure by 57% with a projected daily haul of $47.5M (that includes $12.7M in Thursday previews) on its way to a mindblowing 3-day opening of $118.4M-$123M and a 4-day between $129.6M-$136M.

Among 3-day openers before the summer season (which starts in May) Deadpool will likely rank third behind The Hunger Games ($152.5M) and Furious 7 ($147.2M). Similar to Universal with Fifty Shades of Grey last year which carried a $40M cost, Fox should recoup its $58M production cost before P&A on Deadpool by Monday.

Fox has plenty of bragging rights this weekend: In addition to Deadpool, DreamWorks Animation’s Kung Fu Panda 3 is also poised to cross $100M by EOD Monday. It’s not even the end of February and the Pico lot has racked up three $100M-plus hits in addition to The Revenant.

Deadpool is also a huge win for Ryan Reynolds; easily his best opening of all-time. The leading man had the deck stacked against him with another superhero movie in 2011,  Warner Bros.’ Green Lantern, which despite its $53M opening was considered a bomb given its $200M production cost. Forty-seven percent of the audience cited Reynolds as the reason they showed up, while 59% said it was because Deadpool is a superhero movie.

Simply put, audiences are bewitched by Deadpool‘s  merciless send-up of the Marvel brand, topped by a fair share of nudity, foul-mouthed funny, and fourth-wall breaking. According to social media monitor RelishMix, there’s been a thirst for this character: Outside of the film, there are social media pages dedicated to the comic-book, the Activision video game with a total reach of 587K. Fans are making parody videos dressed as the Reynolds character. Youtube channel Epic Rap Battles has a Deadpool vs. Boba Fett rivalry which has accumulated 18M views, clocking 159K per day.

CinemaScore is an absolute A, not just with all auds, but guys and gals, too. Males showed up in full force at 57% on par with Ant-Man. ComScore PostTrak reports that 88% of moviegoers said they’d recommend Deadpool to a friend. That’s the same recommendation score that Star Wars: The Force Awakens earned during its opening weekend. Further evidence that word of mouth is through the roof: 92% of those polled by PostTrak said they know five friends or family members who would see the movie (Force Awakens scored a 95% in this category). Check out this page’s photo of the line for Deadpool at Edwards Valencia 12 & Imax in Valencia, CA.

For RelishMix, Deadpool‘s social media is more than perfect. The film’s social media universe is weighed at 527M, composed of  25M+ Facebook fans, nearly 2M Twitter followers, 3M Instagram followers and over 496M YouTube views. Reynolds is carrying the torch with 6.3M followers, adding tens of thousands of followers each day. Also, co-star Gina Carano counts 1.3M across Twitter, FB and Instagram.[/b]

UltimateMarvel wrote:Ryan deserves this. I'm happy for him and this movie should have happened a long fucking time ago but I don't know if it would have been as good then as it is now. Looking forward to seeing it.

WyldeMan wrote:All I care about is that Marvel gets their shit together and gives me the R-Rated properties that many of us want, I bet this is giving them all kinds of ideas with their Netflix shows.

UltimateMarvel wrote:

WyldeMan wrote:All I care about is that Marvel gets their shit together and gives me the R-Rated properties that many of us want, I bet this is giving them all kinds of ideas with their Netflix shows.

I hear ya! Besides Blade and Deadpool, I'm not sure how much of them are adult themed but I'd like to see more whether it's shows or movies.

WyldeMan wrote:I was referring to Daredevil and The Punisher.

Rusty Cunt wrote:Whilst I think the R rating was beneficial for this movie, I don't think other R-rated properties would bring this sort of money - because they aren't Deadpool.

Like I read somewhere else, it's essentially Van Wilder with weapons and fighting.

By all means, give us an proper r-rated Blade, DD, Punisher ... shit, I would have loved an R-rated Jessica Jones. I don't see Marvel doing it though. Deadpool is essentially his own little universe.

Rusty Cunt wrote:Whilst I think the R rating was beneficial for this movie, I don't think other R-rated properties would bring this sort of money - because they aren't Deadpool.

Like I read somewhere else, it's essentially Van Wilder with weapons and fighting.

By all means, give us an proper r-rated Blade, DD, Punisher ... shit, I would have loved an R-rated Jessica Jones. I don't see Marvel doing it though. Deadpool is essentially his own little universe.

In Deadpool's post-credits scene, Wade himself revealed that his on-again-off-again partner Cable is scheduled to appear in the sequel. As for who could take the role, 'Pool jokingly offered a few suggestions, including Mel Gibson, Dolph Lundgren, and Keira Knightley.

However, Avatar actor Stephen Lang has begun lobbying for the role on social media, posting pictures of his workout routine on Twitter and namedropping both Cable and Deadpool.
"Shakespeare:"CABLEs of perdurable toughness". Slang: Just staying fit. Training another story. Let's go! #Deadpool"

UltimateMarvel wrote:He's perfect for it. I hope he gets it. With the fans behind him, this could actually happen and I'm sure Reynolds would approve. Assuming Cable is in the second movie because there is already a script I think.

UltimateMarvel wrote:I didn't even read the article. So that's what the post-credit is all about. Damn! Well, at least there is the other one.

joey con carne wrote:I can see Stephen Lang as Cable. I think he would be a pretty good choice. Glad to know this movie did really well. I remember some people on forums were getting angry at Deadpool's costume color or whatever when it was first displayed. Looks like everything worked out fine. : )

Definitely want to catch this but will probably see it the first weekend in March on a Sunday matinee.