Ryan Reynolds is well-known for injecting his Deadpool films with meta-industry humor. In the 2018 sequel, the unconventional antihero muses about whether his films will ever surpass Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ, which earned $370.8 million domestically and became the highest-grossing R-rated film at the time, not accounting for inflation.
Although the first Deadpool surpassed Passion of the Christ globally ($782 million versus $612 million), it did not achieve this in North America. Reynolds’ aspiration has finally been realized over the August 2-4 weekend, with Deadpool & Wolverine setting new records.
Since its release over a week ago, the film has achieved impressive midweek earnings, bringing its seven-day domestic total to an extraordinary $298.3 million by Thursday.
The film continued its record-breaking streak into its second weekend, surpassing initial projections of $85 million to $95 million by earning $97 million, culminating in a 10-day domestic gross of $395.6 million.
Marvel Studios and Disney’s Deadpool & Wolverine, directed by Shawn Levy and featuring Hugh Jackman, also showed strong performance internationally, with $428.5 million from overseas and a global total of $824.1 million.
The film’s success defies the expectation that R-rated movies cannot perform like mainstream films. Deadpool & Wolverine has broken new ground and, with its opening performance, stands alongside some of the most successful franchises in recent history, such as Avengers and Star Wars.