Deadpool has expressed his appreciation for musical icon and dance partner Céline Dion by unleashing a pun storm on Twitter. Deadpool 2 has now hit theaters and it’s already on its way to owning the box office with $18.6 million taken in on Thursday night. The superhero sequel following the adventures of the Merc with a Mouth and his X-Force team should have a huge first weekend, taking in as much as $350 million worldwide.

In order to guarantee such big box office numbers, Fox unleashed a wacky marketing blitz behind Deadpool 2 the likes of which has seldom been seen before. One trailer had Deadpool doing an impersonation of Bob Ross. Fox marketers plucked the character of everyman Peter, a fan favorite from a later trailer, and gave him his own Twitter account. At one point, Deadpool crashed Hugh Jackman’s bedroom, then later he crashed Stephen Colbert’s monologue. Deadpool even photobombed Blu-Ray covers for other people’s movies.

But probably the greatest Deadpool 2 marketing stunt of all saw the character dancing on stage with none other than Céline Dion, who provided the song “Ashes” for the movie’s soundtrack. With Deadpool 2 now cursing and shooting (and chainsawing) its way to the top of the box office charts, Dion herself took to Twitter to congratulate her dance partner on his latest success. And of course the man himself (or at least the movie’s official Twitter account) couldn’t resist responding to Ms. Dion with total appreciation. See the tweet below:

The inclusion of Dion’s song on Deadpool 2’s soundtrack should come as no surprise. If there’s anything Deadpool loves, it’s a good Dion-esque power ballad. Besides “Ashes,” the soundtrack is loaded with other such emotional if cheesy fare, including Pat Benatar’s anthemic “We Belong,” Air Supply’s tear-jerking “All Out of Love” and Cher’s wistful “If I Could Turn Back Time.” Other oldies on the soundtrack also include Dolly Parton’s “9 to 5,” A-ha’s “Take On Me” and Peter Gabriel’s “In Your Eyes.”

All in all, the Deadpool 2 marketing has done a great job capturing the movie’s comedic spirit. Of course, one could argue that the marketing blitz has been a bit over-the-top, bordering on excessive. Fox clearly thinks Deadpool has not yet totally established its brand, and believed the movie needed a big push to raise public awareness. Their efforts appear to have paid off, as all indications are the sequel will surpass the original at the box office. This is great news for Fox as they plan to move forward with an X-Force film, bringing back Deadpool together with Zazie Beetz’s Domino and Josh Brolin’s Cable. And probably Peter.

More: X-Force Movie: Every Update You Need To Know

Source: Deadpool Movie

  • Deadpool 2 Release Date: 2018-05-18 X-Men: Dark Phoenix Release Date: 2019-06-07 New Mutants Release Date: 2020-08-28