Deadpool & Wolverine is Marvel Studios' most successful film in years, with both the international and domestic box office receipts aiding the MCU film in breaking several records. Where upcoming Marvel movies are concerned, Marvel Studios will be hoping they can recapture the success of Deadpool & Wolverine. The MCU franchise's box office took somewhat of a hit in 2023; while Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 garnered a profit, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania underperformed, and The Marvels became the MCU's lowest-grossing movie of all time.
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Deadpool & Wolverine is putting the franchise back on track and is on its way to cracking the top 10 highest-grossing Marvel movies of all time. This success will almost undoubtedly factor into Marvel's plans going forward, from furthering the exploration of the Fox X-Men universe in conjunction with the MCU to providing updates on Deadpool 4. Since its release on July 26, 2024, Deadpool & Wolverine's domestic, international, and opening weekend box office numbers have looked increasingly promising, allowing the film to break several records and potentially continue to do so.
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Deadpool & Wolverine |
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Budget |
Domestic Opening |
International Opening |
Worldwide Opening |
Domestic Total |
International Total |
Worldwide Total |
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$200 million |
$211 million |
$233 million |
$444 million |
$603,907,246 |
$660,282,871 |
$1,264,190,117 |
Deadpool & Wolverine's Total Box Office (So Far)
Deadpool & Wolverine's Numbers Are Seriously Impressive
Before going on to explore individual box office numbers for different territories and any records the film has broken, it is worth summing up Deadpool & Wolverine's total worldwide box office thus far. The film was released in theaters worldwide on July 26, 2024, meaning it has had over a month at the box office since its release - and while its biggest results naturally came in the first days of its release, the bigger picture serves to paint an even more exciting picture of the film and its overall financial fate.
As of September 4, 2024, Deadpool & Wolverine's last recorded numbers for the box office came on September 2, 2024. Using data acquired from The Numbers, Deadpool & Wolverine's worldwide box office as of this date is $1,264,190,117. This makes the movie's immense success clear, but also serves to show how the numbers for Deadpool & Wolverine are continuing to climb even some time after its initial release, as this marks an over $200,000,000 increase from the $1,042,137,007 box office recorded on August 13, 2024.
Deadpool & Wolverine's Opening Weekend Box Office
A Large Portion Of Deadpool & Wolverine's Box Office Came From Its Opening Weekend
In recent years, opening weekend box office numbers have become increasingly important. While these numbers were always crucial to understanding whether a film would perform in the long run, the recent shortening of time between theatrical and streaming releases means opening weekend hauls can make or break a film. Deadpool & Wolverine's opening weekend numbers proved to result in the former, with a strong total being acquired both internationally and domestically in the first few days of its release.
Domestically, Deadpool & Wolverine opened with a total gross of $211 million. Overseas, Deadpool & Wolverine's opening weekend haul sat at $233 million. This meant that Deadpool & Wolverine's total worldwide box office on its opening weekend sat at a staggering $444 million. This opening weekend total was over half the completed worldwide total of both Deadpool and Deadpool 2, proving just how much of a success the third installment in the franchise was in only its opening three days.
The only MCU movies to gross more in their domestic opening weekends were Avengers: Infinity War , Spider-Man: No Way Home , and Avengers: Endgame...
In domestic territories, Deadpool and Deadpool 2 opened with $132 million and $125 million respectively, with Deadpool & Wolverine greatly surpassing its predecessors. In comparison to other Hollywood movies on their domestic opening weekends, Deadpool & Wolverine became the sixth-best debut of all time according to Box Office Mojo. The only MCU movies to gross more in their domestic opening weekends were Avengers: Infinity War, Spider-Man: No Way Home, and Avengers: Endgame, with Deadpool & Wolverine beating out big hitters like Black Panther, The Avengers, and Avengers: Age of Ultron.
Concerning worldwide opening weekends, Deadpool & Wolverine ranks as the 11th best in history. The aforementioned MCU films to surpass Deadpool & Wolverine's domestic opening weekend total did the same for worldwide markets, with the addition of Captain Marvel and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. As evident, Deadpool & Wolverine's opening weekend shattered expectations for Marvel Studios, leading to several box office records being broken.
Deadpool & Wolverine Box Office Records Explained
Deadpool & Wolverine Has Crossed Multiple Milestones
If Deadpool & Wolverine's box office numbers so far prove anything, it is how successful the film has been in all territories. That said, this success can be measured in another way. Thanks to its strong performance, Deadpool & Wolverine has broken multiple box office records and is on track to break even more. Thus far, the records broken by Deadpool & Wolverine are as follows:
- Biggest Domestic Opening Weekend In July
- Biggest Domestic & Worldwide R-Rated Opening Weekend
- Biggest Domestic Day For R-Rated Movies
- Biggest Domestic Day For A July Movie
- Biggest Opening Weekend For Lead Stars & Director
- Biggest Domestic & Worldwide Opening Weekend Of 2024
- Highest Grossing R-Rated Movie Of All Time
As evident, Deadpool & Wolverine's box office records are aplenty. The domestic opening weekend in July record was taken from another Disney movie, 2019's The Lion King. The R-rated opening weekend record was stolen from its predecessor, Deadpool. Concerning its 2024 records, Deadpool & Wolverine beat out Inside Out 2 as the highest opening weekend of the year worldwide.
However, perhaps the most exciting record that Deadpool & Wolverine has broken came a little while after its initial box office results, as August 15, 2024 brought the first reports that Deadpool & Wolverine had surpassed Joker's financial results and had thus become the highest-grossing R-rated movie of all time. Naturally, this is a colossal record for the movie itself to possess, and also for the MCU to be able to boast as a result, and suggests more mature installments may be on the horizon for the franchise going forward.
This all places Deadpool & Wolverine as one of the MCU's most successful movies of all time, with currently the seventh-highest worldwide box office of all the franchise - coming behind Avengers: Endgame, Avengers: Infinity War, Spider-Man: No Way Home, The Avengers, Avengers: Age Of Ultron, and Black Panther. That said, this still puts the box office for Deadpool & Wolverine over some iconic MCU movies like Iron Man 3 and Captain America: Civil War, and given the movie's run isn't over yet, it's entirely possible it will overtake some of the releases currently above it in the coming days.
What Deadpool & Wolverine's Box Office Means For The MCU
Deadpool & Wolverine's Numbers Could Have Big Implications For The Marvel Franchise
Finally, it is worth exploring what Deadpool & Wolverine's box office success could mean for the future of the MCU. The most immediate reflection the film could have on the franchise is more R-rated movies. Deadpool & Wolverine is Marvel Studios' first step into more mature films, as R-rated films in general tend to draw in smaller audiences. However, Deadpool & Wolverine has proven that the family-friendly tone of the MCU does not always mean success, with an R-rated film breaking box office records and vastly outperforming recent PG-13 movies like The Marvels and Ant-Man 3.
Another likelihood is that Marvel Studios will capitalize on the popularity of the two lead characters. Both are expected to return for Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars and the success of Deadpool & Wolverine could lead to a fourth Deadpool movie. Despite Hugh Jackman's older age and self-referential jokes in the film that he will play the role until he is 90, Marvel could decide to keep Jackman onboard for longer than initially planned rather than casting a new Wolverine for Marvel's X-Men movie.
Perhaps the most interesting reflection of Deadpool & Wolverine's strong box office has on the MCU is that it is almost not an MCU movie. The film has MCU elements, of course, but primarily deals with characters from the Fox X-Men movie franchise. The theme of the film involves looking back and celebrating what came before the MCU, with two Fox characters leading the film and Deadpool & Wolverine's Marvel cameos including Wesley Snipes as Blade, Jennifer Garner as Elektra, Chris Evans as Johnny Storm, Dafne Keen as X-23, and Channing Tatum as Gambit among others from franchises outside of the MCU.
The films of 2025 set in the MCU... need to continue performing to this level to prove the MCU is back on top...
Given the centrality of Fox's franchises to Deadpool & Wolverine's story, it will be interesting to see if the film's strong box office numbers continue into upcoming MCU films or not. The films of 2025 set in the MCU - Captain America: Brave New World, Thunderbolts*, and The Fantastic Four: First Steps - need to continue performing to this level to prove the MCU is back on top; if not, Deadpool & Wolverine's record-breaking numbers can be classed as somewhat of a fluke that piggybacked off the success of prior Deadpool movies, Hugh Jackman's Wolverine, and the Fox X-Men franchise that received such a focus.
