It’s official: Marvel Studios and Disney's Deadpool & Wolverine has become the highest-grossing R-rated film of all time worldwide, not accounting for inflation.
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| Deadpool & Wolverine courtesy of wallpapersden |
Directed by Shawn Levy and featuring Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman in a brilliant casting choice, the film set its latest and most significant record on Thursday by surpassing Todd Phillips' Joker. Reynolds initially announced the news on social media.
By the end of Thursday, the third installment of Deadpool had amassed a global total of $1.086 billion, with $516.8 million from domestic earnings and $568.8 million from international markets.
Joker, featuring Joaquin Phoenix in the lead role, earned $1.079 billion in 2019, not adjusted for inflation. It and Deadpool & Wolverine are the only R-rated films to surpass $1 billion.
Ranking third among R-rated global performers is Christopher Nolan's 2023 film Oppenheimer with $974.5 million, followed by Reynolds' previous Deadpool films, The Matrix Reloaded, and The Passion of the Christ.
Before Deadpool & Wolverine, Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ, released 20 years ago, held the title of the top-grossing R-rated film domestically with over $378 million in ticket sales.
The bold third installment in the Deadpool series, which originated at 20th Century Fox, represents a major triumph for Reynolds, the creative force behind the franchise, as well as for Marvel Studios and the superhero genre overall.
It's the first superhero film to cross $1 billion since Sony and Marvel’s Spider-Man: No Way Home two and a half years ago and the first Marvel/Disney MCU film to reach the $1 billion mark since Avengers: Endgame in 2019.
Last weekend, Deadpool entered the billion-dollar box office club and matched The Avengers as the fourth-fastest MCU title to reach $1 billion, achieving this in 19 days. Avengers: Endgame holds the record (five days), followed by Avengers: Infinity War (11 days) and Spider-Man: No Way Home (12 days).
It is the 55th film to surpass $1 billion, the 31st Disney film to do so (including three 20th Century Fox movies from the Disney-Fox merger), and the 11th MCU film, counting two Sony Spider-Man films, Homecoming and No Way Home.
So far this year, it is the second film to join the billion-dollar club, following Disney/Pixar’s Inside Out 2, which now holds the record for the highest-grossing animated film of all time with nearly $1.6 billion in global sales. Disney is the only studio to achieve back-to-back $1 billion films within the same year.
Deadpool & Wolverine has broken multiple records since its release over the July 26-28 weekend, including surpassing the lifetime earnings of the first two Deadpool films both domestically and globally within just two weekends.
The first Deadpool earned $363.1 million domestically and a total of $782.6 million worldwide, while the second film grossed $318.5 million domestically and $734.5 million globally.
As for its potential future earnings, projections suggest that the film could reach between $1.2 billion and $1.3 billion, supporting Reynolds’ belief that he and the filmmakers have created the first R-rated film to appeal to all four quadrants.
