The Merc with the Mouth is back on the big screen — and he’s a marvel.
Movie Theater Chains Tout Revenue Records After 'Deadpool & Wolverine' Bow
Directed by Shawn Levy in close collaboration with franchise mastermind and star Ryan Reynolds, Deadpool & Wolverine opened to a record-shattering $211 million at the domestic box office, landing the sixth-biggest opening of all time for any film and by far the biggest launch for an R-rated film, according to final numbers. That’s up from Sunday’s estimate of $205 million, which would have made it the eighth-biggest opening of all time. The first Deadpool was the previous R-rated record-holder at $133.7 million. The jump from $205 million to $211 million is a big one and underscores how the movie is out-pacing all modeling (put another way, Sunday traffic was far bigger than expected).
Deadpool 3 also shattered records for an R-rated pic on a global scale, opening to $233.1 million internationally from 55 materials markets for a worldwide start of $441.1 million, up from Sunday’s estimate of $438.3 million.
Among additional records domestically, the film is the top opening ever for Reynolds, Levy and co-lead Hugh Jackman and the fourth-biggest superhero launch. It’s also the top July opening, as well as the biggest launch since Spider-Man: No Way Home in December 2021, when the Sony/Marvel pic opened to $260.1 million domestically.
Globally, it’s also the biggest opening since No Way Home after passing up Avatar: The Way of the Water ($439 million) on Sunday. And it pushed Marvel’s MCU movies past the $30 billion mark in combined worldwide ticket sales, further solidifying it as the top-grossing franchise in history (that includes movies distributed by Sony, Paramount and Universal, versus just Disney).
Premium format screens contributed 18 percent of the gross, led by $36.5 million in Imax ticket sales, a July and R-rated record for the large-format exhibitor.
Heading into the weekend, the threequel — which returns Reynolds as Wade Wilson/Deadpool and brings Jackman into the franchise as Logan/Wolverine — was expected to open to $160 million to $175 million in North America, which were already huge numbers for a movie with the restricted rating.
Deadpool & Wolverine is the first R-rated movie released by Disney and puts the Kevin Feige-run Marvel on the road to recovery after a rough patch. The movie’s performance was fueled by strong reviews, an A CinemaScore, near-perfect exit scores and a 97 percent audience score on Rotten Tomatoes, the second-best score ever for a Marvel film behind Sony and Marvel’s Spider-Man: No Way Home .
The pic skewed male, or 63 percent, as most superhero films do. One difference in terms of demos between this and past Deadpool films was that it played to a more ethnically diverse audience. White moviegoers made up 43 percent of ticket buyers, followed by Latino moviegoers (30 percent), Black moviegoers (13 percent), Asian moviegoers (9 percent) and Native American/Others (5 percent), according to weighted PostTrak data. In terms of key stats, the R-rated movie showed strength across all age groups, even the under-17 crowd.
Overseas, China led all foreign markets with $24 million, which is a solid showing for a Hollywood film braving tough conditions at the China box office. (Once a boon for Western studios, China has become far less important in terms of whether a film is deemed successful overall.) The pic came in well ahead of the previous two Deadpool films in almost all markets. The U.K. turned in a hefty $22.1 million, followed by Mexico with $18.7 million, Australia with $13 million and Germany and India with $10 million each.
Ryan Reynolds on Stunning 'Deadpool & Wolverine' Box Office: I Think It's "the First Four-Quadrant, R-Rated Film"
The first Deadpool made history when opening to $133.7 million domestically in February 2016, proving that a superhero pic could draw big crowds despite the restrictive rating. A little more than two years later, Deadpool 2 debuted to $125.5 million.
Feige’s Marvel took over the irreverent Deadpool franchise when Marvel’s parent company Disney swallowed up 20th Century Fox, which had rights to the X-Men universe of characters.
Deadpool 3 wasn’t the only headline for Disney’s film empire at the box office this weekend. Pixar’s Inside Out 2 — already the biggest animated film of all time worldwide — passed up fellow Pixar title Incredibles 2 in North America to become the biggest animated film of all time domestically, with a cume of $613.4 million. Its worldwide tally is now $1.5 billion.
While Deadpool 3 created its own tornado at the box office, Twisters managed to withstand the storm. The Amblin Entertainment film fell 57 percent in its second weekend — the decline could have been far worse — to $36 million for a 10-day domestic total of $155.6 million. It placed No. 2 domestically. Overseas, it added another $11.1 million from 56 markets for a foreign tally of $66.3 million and $221.9 million globally. Universal is handling domestic distribution duties, while Warner Bros. has overseas duties.
Universal and Illumination’s Despicable Me 4 held at third place with $14.5 million for a domestic tally of $290.9 million. It turned in another $37.6 million from 80 markets for a foreign haul of $386.7 million and $677.7 million.
Inside Out 2 came in fourth, followed by Neon’s Longlegs in fifth place. The hit indie horror pic also made box office history in becoming Neon’s biggest film ever with $58.6 million in domestic ticket sales after earning another $6.8 million this weekend (the pic continues to grow in screen count based on demand). The crown previously belonged to Neon’s Oscar-winning Parasite , which grossed $53.4 million.
July 29, 8 a.m. : Updated with final numbers.
This story was originally. published July 28 at 8:23 a.m.
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