1. Deadpool (review here)- $135M
Superhero fatigue? Well, maybe...if we're talking about traditional superhero movies. Deadpool is anything but traditional, and audiences rewarded it with record-breaking numbers that go well beyond the genre. Its expected to take in $135M over the weekend and more than $150M over the 4-day holiday, making it the strongest R-rated debut ever. It's also the first R-rated movie to ever hit $100M, which is kind of incredible when you think about. For 20th Century Fox this ranks as their biggest opening weekend ever, and it should go without saying it's the largest for any of their X-Men movies, which should make them feel a lot better about Hugh Jackman retiring as Wolverine. Now they have another franchise to take its place. And if we're just talking about comic book movies in general, Deadpool's debut is 7th all-time. Hard to believe that the Rob Liefeld creation, who began as just a mouthy villain (who got his ass kicked by the New Mutants and Cable), is now the most popular movie character in America. So if you, like me, have grown tired of how Marvel Comics have saturated the market with Deadpool comics then you ain't seen nothin' yet. And with a sequel already on the way there may be no getting away from Deadpool for a very long time.
2. Kung Fu Panda 3- $19.6M/$93.9M
3. How to be Single (review here)- $18.7M
Perfectly timed for Valentine's Day, How to be Single opened decently with $18.7M and a likely $21M+ through the holiday. This one had the benefit of being led by Dakota Johnson, the one good thing about Fifty Shades of Grey, and Rebel Wilson who everyone loves from Pitch Perfect. They're the two biggest driving forces behind this one and audiences turned out to see them both comically navigate the Manhattan dating scene. Although the film might have been hurt a bit by the continued strength of The Choice, which fits the more traditional romance spot.
4. Zoolander No. 2 (review here)- $15.6M
It took Ben Stiller fifteen years to convince Paramount to do another Zoolander movie, and the result is a limp $15.6M opening weekend. Think they'll listen to him next time he comes begging to do something? By comparison, the original film opened with roughly the same amount, but let's not forget that was in the terrible malaise following the 9/11 attacks. And even if it wasn't, the general idea is that the sequel should out-perform its predecessor, especially when it costs more as Zoolander 2 did. Turns out the market to see Justin Bieber get gunned down is pretty small. At least theatrically; people will probably pay to watch it in the comfort of their own homes.
5. The Revenant- $6.9M/$159.1M
6. Hail, Caesar!- $6.5/$21.3M
7. Star Wars: The Force Awakens- $6.1M/$914.8M
8. The Choice- $5.2M/$13.2M
9. Ride Along 2- $4.1M/$82.6M
10. The Boy- $2.9M/$30.7M
Also opening this week was Michael Moore's latest rabble-rousing documentary, Where to Invade Next (review here), which opened strong with $1M. It's the second largest debut for Moore, obviously after Fahrenheit 9/11, but also his second biggest theatrical release
