The vibe was always strong, but few would have predicted the heights that the scurrilous Deadpool has now scaled. Eight weeks on from its release, Ryan Reynolds' anti-superhero is now officially the most successful R-rated movie of all time at the worldwide box office, with a still-climbing haul currently just shy of $750m. Not bad for a budget of just under $60m.
This finally eclipses The Matrix Reloaded's previous record of $742m, which has stood since 2003.
There is, however, a slightly different story if you work on Deadpool's US grosses alone. $350m of its takings come from the States, where it still has to catch Clint Eastwood's American Sniper and Mel Gibson's The Passion Of The Christ to achieve the biggest R-rated success domestically. It needs another $21m before it can claim to be bigger than Jesus at home.
Deadpool 2 has, of course, already been promised by Deadpool himself in the Ferris Bueller-riffing post-credits scene. Less jokey, more official studio announcements haven't yet been forthcoming, but it can only now be a matter of time. As we've previously noted, there are unspecified Fox/Marvel movies slated for release on October 6, 2017 and January 12, 2018. If they don't turn out to be Deadpool 2 and the recently-delayed Gambit we'll be very surprised.