“Deadpool & Wolverine” is the newest member of the billion-dollar club.
The superhero sequel, starring Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman as their comic book alter egos, has grossed $494.3 million in North America and $535.1 million internationally for a grand total of $1.029 billion at the global box office. It’s the second release of 2024, following Disney’s Pixar smash “Inside Out 2” with $1.558 billion, to surpass the billion-dollar mark.
Notably, it’ll soon overtake 2019’s “Joker” ($1.07 billion, the only other R-rated film to cross the coveted milestone) as the highest-grossing R-rated film in history.
“Deadpool & Wolverine” has been a needed win for Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe. The once-untouchable comic book giant has shown signs of wear and tear with recent misfires like “Eternals,” “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” and “The Marvels.” Though post-pandemic installments such as “Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness” ($956 million), 2022’s “Black Panther: Wakanda Forever” ($859 million) and 2023’s “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3” ($846 million) neared the $1 billion mark, “Deadpool & Wolverine” is only the second MCU movie to surpass the benchmark since 2019’s “Avengers: Endgame.” Sony’s “Spider-Man: No Way Home” was the first with $1.9 billion in 2021.
Shawn Levy directed “Deadpool & Wolverine,” which is the first MCU movie to be headlined by comic book characters that were previously licensed to 20th Century Fox. Reynolds and Levy assembled a who’s who of Fox-era heroes, including Jennifer Garner as Elektra, Chris Evans as Human Torch from “Fantastic Four,” Wesley Snipes as Blade, to accompany Deadpool and Wolverine on a universe-saving mission.
Source Agencies
