Fox's 'Deadpool' Dominates The Box Office…Naturally

Twenty-First Century Fox Inc (NASDAQ: FOXA)'s "Deadpool" was either going to be a huge miss or massive hit and it became clear early on which direction it was heading.

Fox executives essentially realized they could go down the traditional model that gave them the $120 million bomb "Fantastic Four" or try something different that could shake things up. Luckily for investors, they chose to change the game and let "Deadpool" be "Deadpool."

Record-Breaking Open

The Ryan Reynolds-headlined comic book adaptation embraced the quirk factor and audiences in turn embraced the film. That's a lesson that other studios need to learn. "Deadpool" cost just $58 million to produce and it's going to spin that into $135 million just by letting the brand grow organically.

And that's just for the three-day weekend.

Related Link: Viacom's 'Transformers' Sequels Causing Trouble For Time Warner

Add in Monday's President's Day holiday totals and that four-day haul is expected to spike to $150 million. Both totals are record breakers and that itself is a shock to the box office system. Then again, with this much social buzz behind it and a loyal fanbase well engaged, it is amazing this was really a surprise.

"Deadpool" now becomes the biggest R-rated opening of all time (topping "The Matrix Reloaded"), the biggest open for a film in the month of February, the biggest debut for a first-time director (Tim Miller) and more impressively, the biggest opening weekend in the history of the studio.

All of these records were not expected to fall as early projections had the film at $70 million, with a shot of hitting $75 million to $80 million. This is one of those times where it is impossible to measure just how well a film has infiltrated pop culture until after its already out.

Great PR

"Deadpool" introduced marketing and PR tactics audiences haven't seen before and the payoff was huge. The film has been a social media superstar from day one and so it really shouldn't have been a surprise it would go onto this type of success.

Just as 2015 was a great year for Comcast Corporation (NASDAQ: CMCSA)'s Universal, Fox and its shareholders could see a similar run. So far just a month and a half into 2016 and Fox now has three hit films crossing the $100 million mark (including "The Revenant" and "Kung Fu Panda 3") and it has strong slate to keep up that momentum.