‘Deadpool 2’ Leaning Toward R-Rated Thursday Night Record With Around $15M+ – Early Read

May 18, 2018

EXCLUSIVE: 20th Century Fox’s Deadpool 2 is looking at a Thursday night of around $15M+ right now, which would easily make it the best preview night ever for an R-rated film, beating New Line/Warner Bros. It, which cashed in $13.5M on its first night. Forecasts at this point can always tip higher or lower. However, we’re hearing the Ryan Reynolds movie could soar to as high as $16M-$18M. TBD, as Los Angeles shows started an hour ago. These are Deadline’s industry projections, and they do not come from 20th Century Fox.

Booked in 4,349 theaters, Deadpool 2 is the widest release ever for Fox, outnumbering their release for DreamWorks Animation’s How to Train Your Dragon 2‘s 4,253 locations; and the most-ever for an R-rated release, outstripping It‘s 4,103 opening weekend theater count.

Before It, the first Deadpool owned the R-rated preview record with $12.7M before grossing $47.3M on its opening Friday, with Thursday night repping 27% of that number. That movie had the bonus of playing over the four-day Presidents Day weekend, with an extra boost from Valentines Day that Sunday (The Merc’s daily figures rose a tad from $42.5M on Saturday to $42.6M on Sunday). Fox marketed to women heavily then via Deadpool stunts on ABC’s The Bachelor, and easily drew in a couples crowd, plus Reynolds’ femme fans. Three-day was $132.4M, while four-day was $152.1M.

Fox is projecting $130M for Deadpool 2, while the town is bullishly predicting more at $150M. Even on the low-end, that’s one of the top 7 starts for a May release behind last year’s Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2 ($146.5M). Working in the pic’s favor is that sweet under-25 spot, with 72% colleges on summer break tomorrow.

To clarify for some out there: While Deadpool is based on a Marvel comic book, it’s not part of the Disney MCU (not yet, at least). Years ago, when Marvel was selling off film rights for its superheros, Fox scored those for X-Men, Deadpool, Cable, Gambit and The Fantastic Four, among others.

In other news, we’re hearing that Paramount’s older female-skewing Book Club could overindex its $9M-$10m tracking with a three-day that’s in the high teens, possibly $20M. That’s not off any 5PM preview projections tonight; rather, Fandango spotted advance ticket sales for the movie pacing with My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2 ($17.8M), and far ahead of Last Vegas ($16.3M) and Going in Style ($11.9M). Again, we’ll see how the advance tix translate. Given how older crowds make their way to the cinema slower, the hope here with these films are the leg-out factor, and that boils down to how long a distributor can convince a multiplex to keep their title on screen. Even when these movies are making money, some exhibition bookers get thick-headed and move the holdovers out for fresher fare if it’s B-grade.

Social Media monitor Relish Mix reports that they’re noticing fans of Diane Keaton, Jane Fonda, and Candice Bergen chiming in that they’re excited to see the pic, with many women tagging each other on Facebook for a girls night out. Jane Fonda is the social media champ for the film across Twitter, Instagram, and FB, with 1.6M followers, followed by Alicia Silverstone, who counts 1.5M. Keaton has 700K. The stars of Book Club left a spicy message for Reynolds on Deadpool 2‘s opening weekend.

Hey @vancityreynolds – You’re not the only one that kills in a tight little red outfit. We’ll show you ours if you show us yours.
xoxo
The Ladies of @BookClub pic.twitter.com/m0I4Nw327P

— Jane Seymour Fonda (@Janefonda) May 15, 2018

Global Road has Show Dogs this weekend, which is looking to do in the high single digits, while Disney’s almighty Avengers: Infinity War is forecast to make around $32M, for a running total by Sunday of $598M, not too far from the six century mark.

Category: celebrity gossip

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