Deadpool has already slayed box office records across the globe, so why not slay a few more? The Ryan Reynolds vehicle is officially the fastest-selling superhero movie on Digital HD, with Variety reporting the R-rated success story now stands as 20th Century Fox's best-selling Digital HD release ever. The superhero instaclassic, which hit the Digital HD platform April 29, has surpassed 1 million units faster than any other title in the studio's history.
"The consumer response to Deadpool has been unprecedented in theaters and now at home," Mary Daily, 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment's President of Worldwide Marketing, said of the film's penchant for exceeding industry expectations. "In just one week, Digital HD transactions are reaching superhero levels." Given this latest development in Deadpool brags, the film will likely smash a few more records once it hits Blu-ray Tuesday.
After years of false starts, Reynolds' passion project finally made its way to theaters in February. That release, strategically timed near Valentine's Day, proved to be an immediate success. By the end of March, Deadpool had dethroned The Matrix Reloaded to become the highest grossing R-rated movie ever. The film's success also seems to have had an immediate impact on the industry at large, with many now questioning how a story like Suicide Squad, for example, could possibly respect its source material within the confines of a PG-13 rating.
How's Deadpool creator Rob Liefeld handling all of this? Pretty damn well. In fact, he's not all that surprised. "It's the follow the leader mentality that this business has had," Liefeld told Complex earlier this month of the steady R-rated shift currently taking over comic book movies. "And I'm telling you that it doesn't surprise me. I knew that it was going to show everybody else, and it's so funny too because I've been using this metaphor at all our fan screenings. I told everybody, 'This is mint chip! This is mint chip! You've been having vanilla.'" Dude's right. Mint chip is delicious.
Thankfully, Deadpool's massive box office (and VOD) hauls have earned a quick green light for the sequel. Just how much further can director Tim Miller and writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick push mainstream audiences' tastes? Here's to hoping they stop at nothing short of NC-17.