Ryan Reynolds is infamous for lacing his Deadpool movies with industry jokes. In the 2018 sequel, the irreverent antihero ponders whether his movies will ever be able to pass up the $370.8 million collected by Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ in North America and become the biggest R-rated film of all time, not adjusted for inflation. While the first Deadpool overtook Passion of the Christ globally ($782 million versus $612 million), it couldn’t claim that same feat stateside.
Reynolds finally got to see that wish come true over the Aug. 2-4 weekend, thanks to Deadpool & Wolverine, which has smashed one record after another since its launch more than a week ago, including stellar midweek business that put its seven-day domestic cume at a stunning $298.3 million through Thursday.
It continued to make history into its second weekend. While everyone expected the movie to take in $85 million to $95 million in North America, the film actually grabbed another $97 million for a 10-day domestic tally of $395.6 million.
Marvel Studios and Disney‘s Deadpool & Wolverine, directed by Shawn Levy and co-starring Hugh Jackman, also continued displaying sharp claws overseas, with a foreign total of $428.5 million and $824.1 million globally.
No one in Hollywood believed that an R-rated film could play like an all-audience film, but Deadpool & Wolverine has broken the mold and, in terms of its opening, shares rarefied air with some of the biggest franchises in modern times, including Avengers and Star Wars. Below are the key records broken so far.
Sixth Biggest Domestic Opening of All Time Among Any Film
Here’s a list of the top 10 biggest openings, for the sake of perspective:
Avengers: Endgame — $355.1 million
Spider-Man: No Way Home — $355.1 million
Avengers: Infinity War — $257.7 million
Star Wars: The Force Awakens — $248 million
Star Wars: The Last Jedi — $220 million
Deadpool & Wolverine — $211.4 million
Jurassic World — $208.8 million
The Avengers — $207.4 million
Black Panther — $202M
The Lion King (2019) — $191.8M
Fourth Biggest Hollywood Superhero Opening
The only superhero films to have done more in their domestic weekend openings were Avengers: Endgame, Spider-Man: No Way Home and Avengers: Infinity War.
Biggest R-Rated Opening, Both Domestically and Globally
Here’s the top 10 domestic openings:
Deadpool & Wolverine — $211.4 million
Deadpool — $132.2 million
Deadpool 2 — $125.5 million
It — $123.4 million
Joker — $96.2 million
The Matrix Reloaded — $91.8 million
It Chapter Two — $91.1 million
Logan — $21.7 million
The Hangover 2 — $85.9 million
Fifty Shades of Grey — $85.2 million
Biggest July Opening of All Time Domestically
Deadpool & Wolverine surpassed The Lion King ($191.8 million), Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows — Part Two ($169.2 million), Barbie ($162 million) and The Dark Knight Rises ($160.9 million), among other notable tentpoles.
Miscellaneous Records Broken (Or, Boy Is This Good News for Theatrical)
The movie scored the biggest domestic opening since Spider-Man: No Way Home in December 2021, or two-and-a-half years ago.
Midweek North American Records
Deadpool & Wolverine served up the biggest Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday grosses for an R-rated film and among the top days ever for July.
Second Weekend Records
Deadpool & Wolverine crossed the $300 million threshold domestically in North America on Friday, when it passed up Deadpool 2‘s lifetime domestic cume of $318.5 million. And by Sunday, it passed up the entire lifetime runs of the first two films, both domestically and globally after just two weeks in theaters. Deadpool‘s domestic earnings were $363.1 million for a global total of $782.6 worldwide; the second film’s worldwide total of $734.5 million.
Within Spitting Distance of Becoming the Top-Grossing R-Rated Film of All Time Globally, and Not Just in North America
It shot up to No. 3 over the weekend, after Deadpool and Deadpool 2. Todd Phillips’ Joker is presently No. 1 at $1.064 billion, so it will take another week or so for Deadpool & Wolverine to overtake that film (bets are on the film to ultimately land in the $1.2 billion range). Christopher Nolan’s Oppenheimer is currently at No. 2 globally for an R-rated film with $975.2 million.
Second Biggest Film of 2024 Behind Sister Pixar Division’s Inside Out 2.
Pixar’s movie has grossed $1.56 billion, a record for an animated title.
Between summer wins including Inside Out 2 — which is the top animated film of all time with a running total of $1.56 billion — and Deadpool 3, Disney has become the first studio to cross the $3 billion mark in worldwide ticket sales this year.
Sorry, Logan
Deadpool & Wolverine has now passed up Jackman’s standalone Wolverine movie Logan, which grossed $619 million in 2017.
BFFs Make for Good Record Breakers
Make no mistake. The Logan part isn’t going to ruffle any feathers between Reynolds and Jackman, who are BFFs, alongside Levy. Deadpool & Wolverine delivered all three the top openings of their career.
Aug. 4, 11:00 a.m. Updated with new additional records.
This story was originally published Aug. 2 at 10:33 a.m.
