Deadpool 2 has finally crossed the $300 million dollar mark at the domestic box office thanks to older adult moviegoers. It is only the fifth film with an R-rating to achieve that feat. The original Deadpool movie also holds one of these spots. Deadpool 2 released last month and profited $125 million dollars over its opening weekend. That opening, however, was slightly lower than its predecessor’s as the original Deadpool opened with $132 million on Valentine’s Day weekend in 2016.

Deadpool 2 isn’t looking like it’s going to match the originals $363 million domestic haul, as it’s already made the bulk of its money. However, cracking $300 million domestically with an R-rating, beating out films such as Solo: A Star Wars Story, it proved it can handle the busy blockbuster season. The summer movie season is generally the season for blockbusters and it’s always competitive. Several films are avoiding competition outright by releasing earlier and later in the year, but 20th Century Fox had enough faith to release their sequel in the middle of May - one of the busiest months of the year. And it seems that it’s actually the older moviegoing crowd that has kept the film afloat all this time.

According to analytics site Movio, the audience demographic of 14-30 year-old moviegoers was 51 percent of total viewership for Deadpool 2. That’s down from the original film’s 70 percent. The age group of 50 and up almost doubled as half the audience were in that demographic for the movie’s first 17 days. The reason for an older audience for Deadpool 2 could be due to some parents being more cautious about taking their teens to go see it. It’s possible the sequel garnered a new unexpected audience after the first one becoming so popular.

Deadpool 2 suffered a 65 percent drop at the domestic box office in its second weekend, most likely due to direct competition from Disney’s Solo: A Star Wars Story and Avengers: Infinity War. After all, the first Deadpool movie only dropped 57 percent in its second weekend and avoided any major competition during its month of release. While it took Deadpool 2 six weeks to cross $300 million, the original did it in just four weeks. Deadpool 2 will likely end up with slightly over $700 million worldwide as it has hit all major markets (it’s currently at $697 million). It begs the question, can an R-rated film ever make it into the billion-dollar club?

With the Disney-Fox merger seemingly going to take place, the future of Deadpool is unknown. Ryan Reynolds himself isn’t quite sure about Deadpool 3 right now, but he alluded to the idea of an X-Force movie taking priority. Disney CEO Bob Iger revealed that he believes they can keep Deadpool R-rated despite the company never going in that direction with any other Marvel properties. Both Deadpool movies are critical and financial successes. If Disney wants to not only continue making money but also stay on good terms with fans, then keeping the Deadpool franchise going with it’s R-rating is the best decision. And who knows, perhaps that will attract an older moviegoing audience for Disney.

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Source: Movio (via The Wrap)

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