Deadpool & Wolverine has shattered an R-rated domestic box office record. The new movie is the first time that either titular superhero has appeared in a Marvel Cinematic Universe movie as well as the first time that any installment in the franchise has been rated R. In spite of this, the Deadpool & Wolverine box office kicked off with a record-breaking opening weekend of $211.4 million, which was the best R-rated debut of all time in addition to the fourth-best debut for the MCU ever, behind Avengers: Infinity War, Spider-Man: No Way Home, and Avengers: Endgame.
Custom image by Brennan Klein
Per Deadline, as of Saturday morning, Deadpool & Wolverine is projected to claim the No. 1 spot on the domestic box office Top 5 yet again in its second weekend with a 3-day total of $94 million. Combined with its opening week, this will bring its cumulative domestic haul to a record-smashing total of $392.5 million that outgrosses the previous highest-grossing R-rated movie in North America, which was Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ. The original Deadpool previously came closest to beating that movie’s $370.7 million gross by earning $363 million in domestic theaters.
How Deadpool & Wolverine Compares To North America’s Other Biggest R-Rated Hits
The MCU Movie Is Breaking The Scale
The Deadpool & Wolverine release breaking this record in week 2 is a substantial accomplishment, and it is only getting started. In fact, early projections show that it could earn as much as half a billion dollars at the domestic box office alone by the end of its run. However, even just ten days after its debut, it has taken a huge lead over many of the highest-grossing domestic R-rated movies. Below, see how it compares to the North American R-rated Top 10:
| Rank | Title | Domestic Gross |
|---|---|---|
| #1 | Deadpool & Wolverine (2024) | ~$392.5 million |
| #2 | The Passion of the Christ (2004) | $370.7 million |
| #3 | Deadpool (2016) | $363 million |
| #4 | American Sniper (2014) | $350.1 million |
| #5 | Joker (2019) | $335.4 million |
| #6 | Oppenheimer (2023) | $329.9 million |
| #7 | It (2017) | $328.8 million |
| #8 | Deadpool 2 (2018) | $324.6 million |
| #9 | The Matrix Reloaded (2003) | $281.6 million |
| #10 | The Hangover (2009) | $277.3 million |
By the end of the weekend, the new movie will already be more than $100 million above the No. 10 title on the chart, the smash hit comedy The Hangover, which itself spawned a three-film franchise. If it made half a billion, it would not be entirely far off from outgrossing that movie and the No. 9 title, The Matrix Reloaded, put together. On top of that, the gap between it and The Passion of the Christ is already $20 million and could eventually extend by an additional $100 million and beyond.
There is a chance that Deadpool & Wolverine could be seeing some competition before too long, as Joker: Folie à Deux is due on October 4. As the sequel to another billion-dollar R-rated superhero movie, it could very well also be a record-breaker. However, it has less of a legacy behind it than the three Deadpool movies and the nine X-Men movies featuring Wolverine, so it may ultimately pale in comparison.
