Irreverent Deadpool holds its own against Bollywood flicks

Ryan Reynolds-starrer rakes in Rs 14.25 crore during the Valentine's weekend, surpassing Fitoor's collection of Rs 14 crore

20th Century Fox’s Deadpool, which released in theatres worldwide on February 12, has surprised audiences and critics alike, with a stellar show at the movies not only in the US, but in India as well. 

In India, the Ryan Reynolds-starring A-rated film released with Aditya Roy Kapoor’s Fitoor and Pulkit Samrat’s Sanam Re. The superhero flick opened almost at par with the Indian flicks, despite a lower screen count and maintained momentum to finish the weekend at Rs 14.25 crore, well behind Sanam Re (Rs 17 crore) and just ahead of Fitoor (Rs 14 crore).

Deadpool was released in around 800 screens in the country. The biggest speed bump in the film’s run in India was expected to be its A-rated certificate, which would restrict the scope of audiences turning up to see the origins story of Marvel Comics’ ‘merc with a mouth’. 

However, audiences seemed to be more than willing to sample this new breed of superhero fare at the theatres as the film maintained close to 70% occupancy over the weekend.

The film collected Rs 4.1 crore on the opening Friday, followed by Rs 4.9 crore on Saturday and finished the weekend with a Rs 5.25 crore collection on Sunday.

Shikha Kapur, chief marketing officer, Fox Star Studios said, “The marketing activities that were planned around the film was focused, strategic and concentrated towards the target audience .The biggest challenge was to promote this foul-mouthed Marvel character who was relatively unknown in India.  Throughout the campaign, we were consistent with the key messaging which was the wit and sarcasm of Deadpool that reflected in all our communication, be it digital media, publicity or above and below the line campaigns. All the efforts were handsomely rewarded when the film opened to a higher number and much higher occupancy than the Bollywood counterparts that released in the same week.”

Globally too, Deadpool has seen success at the box office. In the US, its home territory, the film beat Fifty Shades of Grey to be the highest grossing R-rated film in the opening weekend at $125 million. The ex-US markets contributed another $135 million taking its worldwide opening weekend to $260 million, almost four times the film’s $58 million budget.

In case of the two Bollywood flicks, Sanam Re was released in around 1,800 to 2,000 screens while Fitoor was released in 1225 screens. However, given that the budget of the former is considerably less than that of Fitoor, Sanam Re stands a better chance at recovering costs.