Deadpool was only about $17 million short of Passion’s total when it finished its run, and Deadpool 2’s Thursday total exceeds the take of the original Deadpool by an impressive $6 million — Deadpool held the Thursday R-rated record itself prior to IT — which means Deadpool 2 only needs to exceed the original by an additional $11 million to become the highest grossing R-rated movie ever in North America.
Deadpool is the highest grossing R-rated movie in the world, and it’s number two domestically, behind Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ.
These numbers fall in line with the early indications that Deadpool 2 was going to surpass the box office success of the original film.