‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ Becomes Highest-Grossing R-Rated Film Ever
The Ryan Reynolds-Hugh Jackman movie surpasses Todd Phillips’ ‘Joker.’
Marvel Studios and Disney’s Deadpool & Wolverine has now become the highest-grossing U.S. R-rated movie ever at the global box office.
The film has grossed $1.086 billion worldwide—$516.8 million from the domestic box office and $568.8 million from international markets—over 23 days. This achievement gives Disney back-to-back $1 billion hits, following Pixar Animation Studios’ Inside Out 2, which earned $1.46 billion worldwide. Disney is the only studio to ever achieve this feat in a given year.
Directed by Shawn Levy and starring Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman, Deadpool & Wolverine is the first superhero movie 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 threshold since Avengers: Endgame in 2019.
Deadpool & Wolverine has shattered one record after another since debuting over the July 26-28 weekend, securing wins for all those involved. Upon its theatrical release, it opened to $444 million globally, setting the record for the highest-grossing global opening for an R-rated film ever, surpassing the original Deadpool in 2016.
While Logan had a fantastic box office run, Deadpool & Wolverine quickly surpassed it, as well as its two predecessors. This made it the biggest opening in the careers of Jackman, Reynolds, and Levy.
Joker, starring Joaquin Phoenix, grossed $1.079 billion globally in 2019. By August, Deadpool & Wolverine broke a 20-year-old record held by Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ to become the highest-grossing R-rated film ever domestically, with more than $378 million in ticket sales.
In a post to Marvel Studios’ X account, studio head Kevin Feige thanked fans with a heartfelt note, writing, “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!”
Attached to the thank-you note was a memo from Feige to Reynolds and Levy, detailing which drug terms would not be allowed in the film—something Deadpool himself, aka Wade Wilson, humorously references in the movie.
“Cocaine is the one thing that Feige said is off-limits,” Wade quips to his roommate Blind Al. “They know all the slang terms; they have a list.”