As Deadpool 2 could be watched online after its US release and is rated R, or "restricted", meaning teenagers under 17 should be accompanied by parents or adult guardians, most Chinese fans thought the film would not be screened in Chinese mainland theaters.

But the version released on the Chinese mainland is Once Upon a Deadpool, a PG-13 rated family-oriented film.

Meanwhile, a few days after 20th Century Fox announced the Chinese mainland release of the film in mid-January, Ryan Reynolds, the lead actor in Deadpool films, canceled a scheduled surgery in New York to fly to Beijing to attend the film's promotional events.

Revealing that he had previously planned to have surgery on his injured left arm on Jan 20, he said: "This (the promotion) was more important. And I was not going to miss coming to China."

Reynolds, who is also one of the franchise's producers, says he has been fascinated by Deadpool since reading a Marvel comic book about the character, and spent a decade to bring him to the silver screen.