Deadpool & Wolverine is officially the highest-grossing R-rated film ever. The Deadpool sequel generated $1.086 billion globally, defeating 2019’s Joker, which reached $1.078 billion at the time.
The new accomplishment for the film starring Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman comes after the Marvel film earned $211 million domestically during its opening weekend, becoming the sixth-biggest opening of all time. Since then, it has earned an additional $516 million in North America, and $568 internationally, according to Variety.
“Thanks for making Marvel Studios’ first R-rated movie the biggest of all time,” Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige said in a statement posted to social media. “It’s fantastic to see that audiences are loving this movie as much as we all loved making it. All those conversations were worth it!”
From the desk of Kevin Feige.#DeadpoolAndWolverine pic.twitter.com/i7AwxIriIu
— Marvel Studios (@MarvelStudios) August 16, 2024
Deadpool and Wolverine is the first R-rated film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It also featured a slew of cameos from A-list stars, including Chris Evans as Fantastic Four‘s Human Torch, Wesley Snipes as Blade, and Jennifer Garner as Elektra.
“[It’s] filled with all the ultraviolence, shock-jock humor, and nihilism you’d expect from Reynolds’ sidebar franchise, but now the merc with the mouth can legally name-drop Thor and Kevin Feige in his asides,” read a Rolling Stone review of the film. “And it resurrects Hugh Jackman‘s Logan, who you may know as the Wolverine, for one final (?) round of what Deadpool refers to as ‘the fun, the chaos, the residuals.’”
The film even got a shout-out from Taylor Swift during opening weekend, who called the film an “abs sandwich,” and celebrated how it’s Reynolds “best work of his life” and “an actual joy portal.”
Jackman previously opened up about coming out of retirement for the film, sharing that he knew that Wolverine could come back to do a double-act comedy after watching Deadpool for the first time.
“That’s when everything came flashing to me. That’s when I saw 48 Hours, Nick Nolte, Eddie Murphy … I saw The Odd Couple,” Jackman said during a visit to Hot Ones. “I was like, these two characters have to be together, and I literally announced my retirement three days before … it took us six years to get there, but we got there.”
