Los Angeles: Ryan Reynolds' 'Deadpool' is heading into record territory with $100 million at the U.S. box office over the Presidents' Day weekend, topping the record set by 'Fifty Shades of Grey'.
Estimates showed an opening day of $35 million on Friday, which includes $12.7 million from Thursday night screenings that set a record for an R-rated film.
Fox's 'Deadpool', a comic book adaptation about a wise-cracking mercenary, toppled the consensus forecast of $70 million over the four-day weekend at 3,558 locations.
Fox had been pegging a debut between $60 million and $65 million.
'Deadpool' should set the record for the biggest Presidents' Weekend launch in history, eclipsing 'Fifty Shades of Grey's' $93 million debut a year ago, which was also timed to Valentine's Day.
Fox produced the movie under its licensing deal with Marvel Enterprises, which allows it to use the X-Men characters.
The studio has run what appears to be a masterful marketing campaign starting last summer at Comic-Con and stressing the humor delivered by the prolifically profane superhero, whose key power is the ability to recover quickly from injuries.
Ironic taglines such as 'Wait Til You Get a Load of Me' proliferated. The film, directed by Tim Miller with a modest $58 million budget, also stars Morena Baccarin, Ed Skrein, T.J. Miller and Gina Carano.
'Deadpool' represents a major redemption for Reynolds, who had campaigned for years to get the film made, even after his 'Green Lantern' superhero movie underperformed in 2011.
Critics have shown plenty of affection for 'Deadpool' with an impressive 84% rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
'Deadpool' looks to be a money-maker for Fox already.
It generated a solid $14 million in seven international markets in its first two days of screenings.
Two other new comedies are expected to finish the four days in the $20 million to $25 million range, Paramount's 'Zoolander 2', which brings back Ben Stiller as Derek Zoolander, 15 years after the original at 3,394 locations, and New Line-MGM's 'How to Be Single', starring Dakota Johnson and Rebel Wilson, across 3,343 theaters.