8TH WRITETHRU, Tuesday update, charts updated: The 3-day revise on Deadpool is now $132.4M with 4-day finally clocking $152.2M for the Presidents’ Day holiday. Global debut: $284.5M all in. Countless records were broken here. As we saw all along, Deadpool easily flogged Fifty Shades of Grey‘s opening figures from last year ($85.1M FSS, $93M FSSM). But, Deadpool was also the biggest opening ever for an R-rated movie on a 3-day basis beating Matrix Reloaded‘s $91.8M, but it also tore apart Hangover 2‘s four-day take of $117.6M. For Fox executives, Deadpool is the biggest opening they’ve ever seen, surpassing Star Wars: Episode III: Revenge of the Sith (FSS $108.4M). In addition, the studio already has $100M+ grossing 2016 releases under its belt along with The Revenant and DreamWorks Animation’s Kung Fu Panda 3, and February isn’t even over yet.

But how did Deadpool set the B.O. on fire? Fox conservatively projected the weekend for this R-rated supehero movie in the $60M-$65M range last week. Rival distribution chiefs had the Marvel anti-hero film as high as $80M. But even they were off.

As we saw with the surprise then-all-time record opening of Jurassic World last June, when it comes to record openings and tracking, the statistical sampling is small, making it hard for industry chiefs to predict. There was a little bit of that going on with Deadpool.

An R-rated supehero movie in the dead of winter blowing the top off the B.O. is highly unusual. That’s why projections were so low on Deadpool. The last R-rated comic book properties to play the first quarter of the year were Warner Bros. Watchmen ($55.2M opening) in 2009 and 300 ($70.9M) in 2007. Given Deadpool‘s strong tracking, if the film was rated PG-13, that would have prompted estimates to be in the $125M-$150M range.

“An R-rated superhero film like this had never been done before. And when it’s never been done before, it’s hard to comp and predict. You’re doing something that’s never been done. It’s like you throw the rulebook out the window,” said Fox domestic distribution chief Chris Aronson on Deadpool’s tracking.

“That R gave everyone pause for concern,” said one rival distribution insider this morning, “Then throw in Valentine’s Day on Sunday and a holiday Monday and it is really hard to predict. We all knew it would be great but calling a performance this strong is just not possible.”

ComScore reports a record Presidents’ day weekend for all films with $240M over 3-days, beating last year’s $214M, and an anticipated $275M over four-days. The Valentine’s Day box office racked up $85M; Deadpool repped 50% of the day’s business. Still that’s not a record as last year’s Valentine’s, which fell on a Saturday, drew $96.6M. The holiday was like having another Saturday on the schedule with the top 10 titles seeing hikes over Saturday of +2%-+28%. Goosing the box office even further money-wise was the fact that football is over, and that’s always a bane for distrib chiefs on Sunday morning. Most top 10 films today are expected to see declines ranging from -25% to -70% when compared to their Sunday tills.

Even though Deadpool carried a low production cost for a comic book film of $58M, it was definitely a gamble. Remember Lionsgate’s critically acclaimed 2010 film Kick Ass? That comic book property, which also was an anarchistic send-up of the superhero genre, was predicted to be a surprise spring hit opening to $30M at the time, but it fell on its face during its first weekend with $19.8M and a final domestic of $48M. Why did that ultra violent comic book film fizzle and Deadpool overpower? Essentially as a Marvel brand, Deadpool is more popular with a significant groundswell coming from a popular Activision video game and a strong presence on social media. Not to mention, audiences are responding to Ryan Reynolds’ transcending turn as Deadpool (47% cited the actor as the main reason why they bought tickets this weekend). Forty-one percent of all moviegoers told ComScore’s PostTrak that they were planning to see this movie well before they left for the theater this weekend. Fandango reported that Deadpool was their highest February advance ticket seller.

While the assumption is that rival distribution executives always like to snark on the competition, this morning they were in complete awe at Fox’s success. One marketing executive applauded Fox’s unconventional marketing campaign and its ability to pull a good portion of women to Deadpool. Another suit got to the heart of the matter as to why Deadpool is truly resonating: “The film has a self-deprecating tone that’s riotous. It’s never been done before. It’s poking fun at Marvel. That label takes itself so seriously, can you imagine them making fun of themselves in a movie? They’d rather stab themselves.” (X-Men and Deadpool film rights were sold to Fox years ago; thus falling outside the Disney Marvel empire).

Guardians of the Galaxy director James Gunn took issue with that quote on Monday morning, taking to Facebook to respond, “Come the fuck on! That’s no reason to rewrite history.” Gunn’s explanation for Deadpool‘s box office phenomenon was that “it was original” and that studios, rather than come up with reasons for why a film succeeded and then copy it, should just give moviegoers, “something they don’t already have.”

In sum, the anti-superhero movie, complete with nudity and bawdy jokes, drew an A CinemaScore and a 97% excellent/very good PostTrak score. The latter polling org also stated that 52% of all moviegoers felt that Deadpool met their expectations while another 45% said it exceeded them. Amazing. Fox’s final read on 3-day demos are as follows: 62% guys, 38% female with 53% over 25. Top theaters included NY, LA, Atlanta, San Francisco, San Antonio, San Diego with Orlando and Seattle overindexing. Boston came in lower than expected, however Canada repped close to 8% of the weekend’s business with his great since there’s no holiday today there.

“In a way it’s similar to The Revenant: We’ve taken a seemingly familiar genre and turned it upside down in an incredibly creative way that audiences really responded to,” said Aronson about Deadpool‘s success.

*****Other weekend box office news ********

Other Deadpool February records: Highest opening day of $47.3M, second highest with Sunday grossing $42.59M, third highest day with $42.5M on Saturday and the highest Monday ever with $19.76M.

Typically fanboy films are frontloaded, seeing drops of at least a third in their second day. Deadpool dipped -10% on Saturday. PLF screens at 465 repped 13% of Deadpool‘s FSS or $17.6M. Four-day figures are at $19.5M. That’s the biggest R-rated opening for the PLF format, knocking out its previous $8.7M high from American Sniper. Imax is tabulating a February and R-rated record of $16.8M over FSS and $18.4M over FSSM. Deadpool is also the second best opening ever for the first installment of a superhero property behind Disney/Marvel’s The Avengers ($207.4M).

TOP SUPERHERO MOVIE OPENINGS (FIRST INSTALLMENTS) Thumb Rank Film Distributor Release Opening Weekend 1 Marvel’s The Avengers Disney 5/4/12 $207.4M 2 Deadpool Fox 2/12/16 $132.4M 3 Man of Steel WB 6/14/13 $116.6M 4 Spider-man Sony 5/3/02 $114.8M 5 Iron Man Par 5/2/08 $98.6M 6 Guardians of the Galaxy Disney 8/1/14 $94.3M

Fox also owns the No. 2 spot with DreamWorks Animation’s Kung Fu Panda 3 which drew $8.3M on Sunday, +8% over Saturday. FSS is now $19.8M and a FSSM of $26M. Pic will stand with $100.3M by the end of Monday.

In the battle between female skewing females — WB/MGM/New Line’s How to Be Single and Paramount’s Zoolander 2 — the Warner Bros. R-rated female ensemble comedy comes out on top in third place overall. However, in the end, the raunchy femme ensemble also got bit by Deadpool coming in hairs below its $20M 4-day projection with a final $17.9M and $19.9M over four days. Business was up on Sunday by 12% over Saturday. Production cost on HTBS was $38M. Older females took up the most movie seats here. Sometimes when Warner Bros. has the right romantic comedy counterprogramming, they can siphon adults away. Almost.

Warner Bros.’ one-up over Zoolander 2 stems from the studio hitting a very specific demo head on — older females — in their materials and TV spots (IspotTV estimates a $21M spend) and getting them in the door. Warners spread that money around the big 4 networks as well as femme-skewing channels like Bravo and E!. By comparison, Paramount’s Z2 was vying for women in its fashion themes and those men who may still be fans of Derek Zoolander 15 years later.

Deadpool might have nipped HTBS, but he caused some major pain for Z2 with the comedy sequel falling far behind its expected $20M range 4-day with a final $13.8M over FSS and $15.9M over FSSM. Z2‘s 3-day is lower than part 1’s $15.5M September 2001 opening. Anchorman 2 (FSS $26.2M) was the comp heading into the weekend, but let’s face facts: Zoolander was never Anchorman. It’s a cult comedy, which drew a little more than half of Anchorman‘s $85.2M domestic B.O. .

Paramount was relentless about promoting Z2, capitalizing on its fashion angle, particularly overseas. There was a London fan day as well as Owen Wilson and Ben Stiller posing in the storefront of Valentino’s Rome store. The duo even hit the Valentino fashion show in character drawing close to 1M views on YouTube. There were a series of Zoolander Bitmojis released in conjunction with the NYC premiere, and digital Valentine’s Day cards too. Before the teaser dropped in November for Z2, the pic’s cameo star Justin Bieber gave a shoutout on Instagram to Derek Zoolander’s handle. Relishmix graded Z2‘s reach as exceptional with a universe of 914M, with strong activity and a good hashtag turnout. The social media monitor noticed that other social stars from Kim Kardashian West to Miley Cyrus were mixed into this huge SMU, which is composed of 329M Facebook fans, 275M Twitter followers, 257M Instagram followers and 53M YouTube views. However, despite this large total, the sequel is challenged by a predominantly non-activated cast. Nonetheless, I’m told the cast worked it other ways by showing up in character at a slew of events; they weren’t just junketing.

Beiber (207.3M followers) posted some Zoolander clips to his Facebook page weeks ago that received hundreds of thousands of hits. But he’s been shy about tubthumping the film recently other than a shout-out to Stiller, apologizing for missing the premiere. Co-star Will Ferrell has a robust social following with 24M, but that’s mostly from FunnyOrDie. Wilson, Kristin Wiig and Penelope Cruz are not at all social. Stiller counts 8.4M across FB and Twitter. It's totally cool Biebs. We'll always not know things together. #peace #BeBieBebeler #stayinschool #BlueSteel https://t.co/Phay5TDkEN — Ben Stiller (@RedHourBen) February 10, 2016

The final box office per ComScore for Feb. 12-15, 2016:

1). Deadpool (FOX), 3,558 theaters /3-day cume: $132.4M /3-day Pre screen average: $37,222 /4-day: $152.2M/ Wk 1

2). Kung Fu Panda 3 (DWA/FOX), 3,844 theaters (-143) / 3-day cume: $19.8M (-7%)/ 3-day per screen: $5,139 /4-day: $25.9M/Total cume: $100.2M/ Wk 3

3). How To Be Single (WB/MGM/New Line), 3,343 theaters / 3-day cume: $17.9M /3-day per screen: $5,348 /4-day: $19.9M/ Wk 1

4). Zoolander 2 (PAR), 3,343 theaters /3-day cume: $13.8M /3-day per screen: $4,078 /4-day: $15.9M/ Wk 1

5). The Revenant (FOX), 2,266 theaters (-752) / 3-day cume: $6.5M (-6%) /3-day per screen: $2,880 /4-day: $7.58M/ Total cume: $159.8M / Wk 8

6). Hail, Caesar! (UNI), 2,248 theaters (+16) /3-day cume: $6.4M (-44%) /3-day per screen: $2,845 /4-day: $7.4M/ Total cume: $22.1M / Wk 2

7). Star Wars: The Force Awakens (DIS), 1,810 theaters (-452) /3-day cume: $6.2M (-12%)/3-day per screen: $3,403 /4-day: $7.6M/ Total cume: $916.3M / Wk 9

8). The Choice (LG), 2,631 theaters (0) / 3-day cume: $5.2M (-14%)/3-day per screen: $1,984 /4-day: $5.8M/Total cume: $13.8M/ Wk 2

9). Ride Along 2 (UNI), 1,564 theaters (-608) /3-day cume: $4.5M (-2%) /3-day per screen: $2,851 /4-day: $5.1M/ Total cume: $83.6M / Wk 5

10). The Boy (STX), 1,450 theaters (-764) / 3-day cume: $3.1M (-23%) /3-day per screen: $2,166 /4-day: $3.6M/Total cume: $31.1M/ Wk 4

11). The Finest Hours (DIS), 1,794 theaters (-1,349) / 3-day cume: $2.72M (-44%) /3-day per screen: $1,514 /4-day: $3.2M/Total cume: $23.8M/ Wk 3

12). The 5th Wave (SONY), 1,444 theaters (-902) /3-day cume: $2.7M (-28%)/ 3-day per screen: $1,871 /4-day: $3.3M/Total cume: $30.1M / Wk 4

13). Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (SONY), 2,931 theaters (0)/3-day cume: $2.6M (-52%)/ 3-day per screen: $874 /4-day: $3M/Total cume: $9.9M/ Wk 2

14). Dirty Grandpa (LGF), 1,612 theaters (-955) /3-day cume: $2.2M (-45%)/3-day per screen: $1,388 /4-day: $2.5M / Total cume: $33.4M /Wk 4

15). 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi (PAR), 932 theaters (-1,127) /3-day cume: $1.5M (-47%) / 3-day per screen: $1,636 /4-day:$1.8M / Total cume: $50.7M / Wk 5

16). The Big Short (PAR), 535 theaters (-325) / 3-day cume: $1.3M (-21%) /3-day per screen: $2,514 /4-day: $1.6M Total cume: $65.9M /Wk 10

17). Brooklyn (FSL), 495 theaters (-208) / 3-day cume: $1.1M (-8%)/ 3-day per screen: $2,199 /4-day: $1.3M/ Total cume: $34.3M/ Wk 15

18). Daddy’s Home (PAR), 532 theaters (-486) / 3-day cume: $1M (-30%)/ 3-day per screen: $1,947 /4-day: $1.25M/ / Total cume: $146.9M / Wk 8

19). Where to Invade Next (DRAFT), 308 theaters /3-day cume: $897K /3-day per screen: $2,912 /4-day: $1.15M/ Wk 1

20). Spotlight (OR), 455 theaters (-213) /3-day cume: $699K (-16%) /3-day per screen: $1,536 /4-day: $852K/ Total cume: $37.4M / Wk 15

Final notables:

Fitoor (UTV), 148 theaters /3-day cume: $347K /3-day per screen: $2,346 /4-day: $393K/ Wk 1

Dough (MF), 9 theaters /3-day cume: $51K /3-day per screen: $5,652 /4-day: $51K/ Wk 1

Touched With Fire (RSA), 6 theaters /3-day cume: $17K /3-day per screen: $2,803 /4-day: $17K/ Wk 1

New Year’s Eve Of Old Lee (Guo Nian Hao) (CLE), 6 theaters /3-day cume: $16K /3-day per screen: $2,586 /4-day: $19K/ Wk 1

Already Tomorrow In Hong Kong (GRAV), 11 theaters /3-day cume: $15K /3-day per screen: $2,1361 /4-day: $15K/ Wk 1

A War (MAG), 5 theaters /3-day cume: $9K /3-day per screen: $1,819/4-day: $19K/ Wk 1

Beauty And The Beast (1946) (JANUS), 1 theaters /3-day cume: $8K /4-day: $10K/ Wk 1

Mountains May Depart (KINO) 1 theaters /3-day cume: $6K /4-day: $7K/ Wk 1

For comparison purposes: The updated top 10 studio estimates as of Monday morning per Amanda N’Duka for the weekend of Feb. 12-15, 2016 (for a full report on Specialty box office, go here):