‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ Earns $438 Million Worldwide in Opening Weekend

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After just three days of release, Disney’s Marvel epic “Deadpool & Wolverine” is already one of the highest-grossing releases of the year.

The superhero sequel, which unites Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman as their comic book personas, has generated $233 million at the international box office and $438 million globally. “Deadpool & Wolverine” stands behind only “Inside Out 2” ($1.5 billion), “Dune: Part Two” ($711 million), “Despicable Me 4” ($596 million), “Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire” ($567.6 million) and “Kung Fu Panda 4” ($545 million) in terms of worldwide ticket sales in 2024.

The film is expected to climb the global charts in the coming weeks. Box office analysts are assessing whether the third “Deadpool” installment has the momentum to clear the $1 billion mark. Even at this early stage, it seems poised to reach that benchmark. However, only one R-rated movie in history — 2019’s “Joker” with $1.07 billion globally — has joined the billion-dollar club. At the time of their respective releases, 2016’s “Deadpool” with $782 million and 2018’s “Deadpool 2” with $785 million were the highest-grossing R-rated films of all time.

“Deadpool & Wolverine” notched the largest global debut of 2024, comparable to “Avatar: The Way of Water” with $439 million. Outside the U.S. and Canada, the biggest markets included China with $24 million, the United Kingdom with $22.1 million, Mexico with $18.7 million, Australia with $13 million, Germany with $10 million, Brazil with $10 million, and India with $10 million. Overall, these sales ranked as the biggest international launch for an R-rated Hollywood film, surpassing “Joker” which had $147 million to start based on current exchange rates.

Audiences preferred to watch “Deadpool & Wolverine” on the biggest and brightest screens, with Imax accounting for $36.5 million of global revenues. This ranks it as the eighth-biggest Imax debut, behind 2021’s “Spider-Man: No Way Home” with $37.1 million.

Over the weekend, Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU) became the first film franchise ever to cross $30 billion at the global box office. It’s the most prolific series in Hollywood with 34 installments over 15 years. While not all films have been box office winners (“Eternals,” “The Marvels” and “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,” for instance), the MCU remains unparalleled in terms of commercial appeal.

“Deadpool & Wolverine” is noteworthy as the first R-rated film within the MCU and the first to feature comic book characters previously licensed to 20th Century Fox. Directed by Shawn Levy, the superhero tentpole follows Wade Wilson, a.k.a. Deadpool, who leaves his mercenary life to become a used car salesman. That all changes when he’s recruited by the Time Variance Authority, an organization that exists outside of time and space to monitor the multiverse, for a new mission. Deadpool teams up with a reluctant Wolverine to save the Merc’s home universe and alter the course of the MCU’s history.

Source: Variety