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 $135 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 net budget at a relatively modest $58 million. Every other studio superhero movie in recent times has been rated PG-13; Deadpool alters the game. For the four-day holiday weekend, Deadpool is estimating a colossal $150 million, a Presidents Day best that beats the $93 million grossed a year ago by sensation Fifty Shades of Grey.
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