UPDATE: Well, apparently, the estimates were still too low. “Deadpool & Wolverine” actually earned $211 million domestically during its opening weekend, accounting for the sixth best debut in history. Wow. The original piece is below…
Everyone knew “Deadpool & Wolverine” was going to be a massive box office success. However, very few believed it could reach the heights it has reached in its first weekend.
According to box office estimates, “Deadpool & Wolverine” has earned $205 million during its first domestic weekend. When you take into account the rest of the world, the film has earned $438 million worldwide. That’s nothing short of mind-blowing. Just a couple of months ago, there were predictions of a $200+ million weekend for the film, but there were a lot of folks (us included) who thought “Deadpool & Wolverine” would have a tough time going that high. Well, the Marvel Marketing Machine—powered by Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman doing every bit of press they could find—did its work.
Ryan Reynolds posted a reaction to the box office in an Instagram story. “This is kind of hard to process,” wrote Reynolds. “But thank you to everyone who went to see the film this weekend.”
So, what records were broken? Well, the first and perhaps flashiest record is the all-time R-rated opening weekend. The previous record for biggest R-rated opening weekend was the original “Deadpool” in 2016, which earned a respectable $132 million domestically. While it was pretty much a foregone conclusion that “Deadpool & Wolverine” would break that record, no one really guessed by how much.
“Deadpool & Wolverine” also broke the record for the biggest July opening of all time, which was previously held by the “Lion King” remake ($192 million). Again, no one really thought this would be in jeopardy, but here we are. Not only did “Deadpool & Wolverine” beat the record, but the film did so by $13 million. Wow. The film also nabbed the 8th biggest opening weekend, domestically, of all time.
As for the global release, it’s not a record, but “Deadpool & Wolverine” become the biggest opening weekend since “Avatar: The Way of Water.”
Needless to say, the folks over at Disney are loving this news. And you can’t help but be happy for Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman, who clearly put everything they could into the marketing for the movie.
You can read director Shawn Levy’s reaction to the box office below: