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!”
