Disregarding warnings from critics and comic book purists alike, “Daredevil” made an amazing $45 million at the weekend box office. This is even more impressive when you factor in the blizzard that kept many on the east coast away from the theaters. The movie had the largest Presidents’ Day weekend opening in history, nearly doubling the previous record, set last year by “John Q.”

With the good news, people all over Hollywood breathed a sigh of relief. Comic book movies have proven successful of late, but most are high-profile hits like “X-Men” and “Spiderman.” With the success of “Daredevil,” a superhero on the fringe of the comic-book universe, movie makers are gearing up to bring other, lesser-known caped heroes to the big screen.

While “Daredevil” $45 million first weekend is nowhere near Spiderman’s $114 million opening, the large debut has the studio preparing a Daredevil sequel and a spin-off for Elektra, the character played by Jennifer Garner. It has also boosted the profile of many other fringe comic-book movies that have been in preparation for years. Characters like Ghost Rider, Iron Man, Hellboy, Black Panther, Catwoman, Constantine, Green Lantern, Punisher and Silver Surfer have all been given a higher profile thanks to the success of “Daredevil.”

It has also put added pressure on other comic book movies coming out this year.

With “Daredevil” making so much, how much will it take for “X2,” “The Hulk”and “The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen” to be considered successful?

Previous attempts to sell second-tier superheroes to the public have proved far less successful. “The Shadow,” “Spawn,” and “The Crow” all ranged from modest to complete failures, with only the last two grossing more than $50 million.

In the beginning, people weren’t so confident about the prospects of a movie about a blind superhero that wasn’t considered a household name. The studio originally set the budget at around $50 million, but the strong debuts of “X-Men” and then “Spiderman,” which broke all kinds of box office records, made them reconsider.

This gave the studio the confidence to up the ante to $80 million, allowing them to beef up the action set pieces and special effects, but the success of “Daredevil” was still up in the air.

Comic book movies have long been successful, but only the name brands were considered safe bets to warrant putting up the hundreds of millions of dollars it takes to finance and promote a superhero movie. “Daredevil” represented a challenge: selling a movie featuring a lesser-known superhero with a budget usually allotted only to Superman or Batman.

Now that the results are in and “Daredevil” has cemented itself as an emerging franchise, Ben Affleck’s status as a leading man and comic book movies as the biggest genre of movies today, people all around Hollywood are preparing their own superhero franchise to be the next Daredevil.