10 biggest movies of 2018

5. Deadpool 2

Things aren’t looking great for the merc with the mouth in the beginning of Deadpool 2, but they certainly turned out well for 20th Century Fox and Marvel; Deadpool blows himself to kingdom come but Deadpool 2 only blew the box office to moderate heights, netting just over $125 million in its opening weekend and about $318 million domestically at the end of its run.

With its R rating, Deadpool 2 is much less accessible than other, more family-friendly offerings, despite Deadpool asserting in the beginning of his own movie that it is, in fact, a family film. And despite the sequel nearly doubling the production budget from its predecessor, it still earned about $50,000 less domestically than the first Deadpool. That being said, Deadpool 2 still did very well for itself, and may well get a third installment (perhaps one co-starring Cable?)

Like Ant-Man and the Wasp, Deadpool 2 takes a more emotional route than its predecessor. It kills off a key character early on in the movie, and spends a good part of the remaining runtime working through the implications of it. There are times when it works better than others; some of the dream sequences feel too off-kilter compared to the irreverent tone of the rest of the movie, but the heart of the story—Deadpool trying to stop a time-traveling Cable from murdering a young mutant before he can grow into his devastating powers—manages to be both moving and hilarious. Its themes are quite serious at times, but in the end it still gets the laugh.

And of course, personal tragedy doesn’t slow down Deadpool’s lust for violence; nor the movie’s abject hilarity. Deadpool cracks wise, the fourth wall shatters, and grievous bodily harm is inflicted in various amusing ways. All in all, it’s a worthy followup to the original Deadpool.