Few people expected Deadpool to become the massive success it became. It currently holds the record for R-rated opening weekends, worldwide R-rated film, February openings, President’s Day weekends, and the X-Men franchise among other categories. But thanks to Tim Miller making a fine, entertaining movie, the film caught on with audiences and now sits atop a giant pile of money.

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Image via 20th Century Fox

Steve Weintraub caught up with Miller and asked about the film’s success among other topics. Miller was straight on his expectations, and said that he thought opening at $50 million would be great (the film opened to $132 million):

Fifty. If we could open at fifty, I would be happy. Because at the budget we were, I felt if we could open at fifty, I would get a chance to make another movie. If it didn’t, then maybe not so much. Or maybe I’d have to wait another ten years or something like that. So I was just hoping for that, and honestly, up until that Thursday when it opened, Fox was only thinking fifty. I distinctly remember a phone call from someone at Fox and they said, “I don’t know what the fuck’s going on here. I’ve never seen this before. I don’t know what this number is.”   And I think it’s all due to the fans and social media and people going, “Holy shit. That didn’t suck. Let me tell my friends about it, and they’ll go and they’ll come out and say ‘Holy shit. That really didn’t suck. Let me tell a few more friends.’”

When it came to box office total worldwide, Miller was even more modest when it came to his expectations versus where Deadpool ended up, which is currently $760 million worldwide:

$250 [million] would have been amazing. I had no idea. This is ridiculous. Who would have? If I would have gotten up and said, “Yeah. We planned this,” that would be pretty ridiculous. Nobody saw this. No one planned this."

 

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Image via 20th Century Fox

So what happens when you make a movie that blows all expectations out of the water? What’s life with the studio like now? Miller likens it to a friendly road trip:

It’s like you met some people that you liked and went on a road trip with them. And you thought you liked them when you got in the car, but after the road trip and you had all these great experiences, then you really like them. Nobody threw up in the car; nobody got thrown out of the car. So it’s that feeling. For them it’s, “We trusted you guys to make a good movie, and you made a good movie.” The love is for that. There’s nothing mercenary; at least, I don’t feel that.

And with the massive success of Deadpool, you can expect that Fox will be shelling out for more chimichangas for the next trip.

Deadpool hits Blu-ray on May 10th. If you missed what Miller told us about Deadpool 2, casting Cable, and X-Force, click here.

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Image via 20th Century Fox

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