Deadpool and Wolverine have taken their first bow as official parts of the Disney universe, and fans have made their excitement clear. While Deadpool’s two previous live-action movies were both box office winners, the third installment of the franchise broke records immediately, and came in with an impressive haul overall.
In its opening weekend, Deadpool & Wolverine made more than $205 million at the domestic box office, the most by far of any R-rated movie ever. The previous rated-R record was held by the original Deadpool, which opened to a comparatively meager $132 million. Deadpool & Wolverine is the first R-rated movie so far in Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe, and a clear sign that even a 17+ rating won’t keep away Marvel’s biggest fans.
The record numbers don’t stop there. Deadpool & Wolverine’s opening weekend was also the fifth biggest in the history of the MCU, just $2 million behind the original Avengers, and $3 million in front of Black Panther. All this also puts Deadpool & Wolverine at number 8 on the chart of highest ever earnings for a movie’s opening weekend.
These would all be impressive metrics no matter when they arrived in the MCU’s timeline, but the success is particularly welcome at this moment for Disney, as Marvel movies continue to suffer from a prolonged downturn. While a few recent MCU movies, like Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, have done fairly well at the box office, the studio has been hit and miss lately, with a number of releases that failed to connect with audiences at all. For instance, The Marvels, the most recent MCU release before Deadpool & Wolverine, only made $84 million through its entire run. Meanwhile, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, which opened in Feb. 2023, only managed $214 million, a number Deadpool & Wolverine will eclipse within just a few days of its release.
But while this return to box office form is welcome for Disney, it’s also unlikely Deadpool’s success will translate to the rest of the MCU franchise. Deadpool & Wolverine’s tone is radically different from the rest of the MCU, and its story is almost entirely disconnected from Marvel’s current ongoing narrative. Then again, Disney is well aware of flagging interest in MCU movies. That might be at least part of the reason that the company used its panel at San Diego Comic-Con to both celebrate Deadpool & Wolverine and to announce the return of MCU stalwart Robert Downey Jr., this time in a role as one of Marvel’s most iconic villains, Doctor Doom.
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