Note: this article is spoiler free!
It’s no exaggeration to say that Deadpool fans have been eagerly waiting to see the third film in the R-rated superhero franchise. That anticipation only grew when Ryan Reynolds announced that Hugh Jackman was going to star in the movie as Wolverine. Fast-forward nearly two years since that news broke, and fans finally got to see Deadpool & Wolverine – a lot of fans.
Deadpool & Wolverine performed better than estimated, seeing a $211 million domestic box office opening weekend. It achieved the sixth biggest opening of all time, edging out Jurassic World, which opened at $208 million in 2015.
The only movies with bigger openers are Avengers: Endgame ($357 million), Spider-Man: No Way Home ($260 million), Avengers: Infinity War ($257 million), Star Wars: The Force Awakens ($247 million), and Star Wars: The Last Jedi ($220 million).
That total puts it above the opening weekends of other big ticket MCU movies like The Avengers, Black Panther, Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness, and Captain America: Civil War.
Deadpool & Wolverine is now the biggest opening weekend of 2024. After just one weekend in theaters, it is already the sixth highest grossing film of the year with a worldwide total of $444 million.
The movie also set a new opening weekend record for an R-rated film, and now Reynolds’ Merc with the Mouth holds the top three spots for R-rated openings. Deadpool reached $132 million on its opening weekend in 2016 and Deadpool 2 opened at $125 million in 2018.
Deadpool & Wolverine garnered huge interest for combining the hilarious antics of Deadpool with the gruff seriousness of Wolverine, utilizing the comedian/straight man buddy movie formula. Added to that is the Deadpool franchise’s hyper-violent action scenes and crass jokes that made it such a hit in the first two movies, plus the chance to see Wolverine really cut loose after many PG-13 appearances. Another important factor that drove audiences to see it on opening weekend was for the cameos – some announced while others were kept a secret.
Directed by Shawn Levy, Deadpool & Wolverine sees Wade Wilson teaming up with Wolverine on a mission to save his world. It takes them on an unexpected journey where they have surprise encounters with other heroes and villains. Deadpool franchise stars Morena Baccarin, Brianna Hildebrand, Leslie Uggams, Karan Soni, Lewis Tan, Shioli Kutsuna, Stefan Kapicic, and Rob Delaney all returned for the sequel.
