'Deadpool & Wolverine' Takes The Clown’s Crown As Highest-Grossing R-Rated Film in History
Marvel’s back! Again! Big time. Like they really ever left.
Deadpool & Wolverine has been slashing through box office records, and considering opening weekend was during San Diego Comic-Con, it was quite a bit to keep up with. Once again the fickle public looked favorably upon Marvel Studios for what was undoubtedly a triumphant return after the strike-hobbled run for The Marvels late last year. Entering its fourth weekend at the box office, the Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman starrer has already become the highest-grossing R-rated film of all time.
The comic book sequel has already earned $1.086 billion at the global box office, overtaking 2019’s Joker, which earned $1.078 billion. The pair are the only billion-dollar R-rated films. The That’s a $518 million domestic (U.S. and Canada) and $568 million international split, all kicked off with an opening weekend gross of $211.4 million domestic and $233.2 million international opening for a $444.6 million start. That was the highest-grossing domestic opening for an R-rated film and the biggest opening of 2024 so far, surpassing Inside Out 2’s $154.2 million, and the 6th-biggest opening ever overall. The top 10 overseas markets through Thursday are: the United Kingdom ($58.7 million), China ($57.1 million), Mexico ($39.6 million), Australia ($33.2 million), Germany ($27.3 million), France ($26.6 million), Brazil ($22.9 million), Spain ($20.6 million), India ($18.4 million) and Italy ($16.5 million). It surpassed the entire theatrical runs of its preceding films, Deadpool which earned $783 million and Deadpool 2 which earned $786 million with $47 million of that being from the Once Upon a Deadpool cut.
While there was no torch-passing gesture like Inside Out 2 got from Frozen II for the animation crown, as inspired by the tradition for the overall highest grossers, we still got a letter, from Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige, who wrote “Thanks for making Marvel Studios’ first R-rated movie the biggest of all time,” Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige said in a statement. “It’s fantastic to see that audiences are loving this movie as much as we all loved making it. All those conversations were worth it!” with a cheeky studio note about about mentioning cocaine peeking out from the pile. Two spots commemorating the milestone have been released. One called “All Time” is a standard TV spot, while the other, “Thank You” thanks the fans. I’m hoping to have something that brings together not only everything that the cameos have said about their experience on the film, but all of Reynolds’s posts thanking them. Meanwhile, Joker has its own sequel on the way, Folie à Deux, releasing in early October.
