“Deadpool & Wolverine” is the newest member of the billion-dollar club.
The sequel to the Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman-starring superhero film has grossed $494.3 million in North America and $535.1 million internationally for a worldwide box office total of $1.029 billion. It is the second film to be released in 2024, after Disney/Pixar's “Inside Out 2”, which grossed $1.558 billion, to cross the $1 billion mark.
Notably, the film will soon surpass 2019's “Joker” ($1.07 billion, the only other R-rated film to top that number) to become the highest-grossing R-rated film in history.
“Deadpool & Wolverine” was a necessary win for Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe. The once-untouchable comic book giant has shown signs of wear and tear with recent flops like “Eternals,” “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” and “The Marvels.” And while post-pandemic installments like “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) have all approached the $1 billion mark, “Deadpool & Wolverine” is only the second Marvel Cinematic Universe film 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.
Directed by Shawn Levy, Deadpool & Wolverine is the first MCU film to feature comic book characters previously licensed to 20th Century Fox. Reynolds and Levy assemble a cast of Fox-era heroes, including Jennifer Garner as Elektra, Chris Evans as the Human Torch from the Fantastic Four, and Wesley Snipes as Blade, to accompany Deadpool and Wolverine on a mission to save the universe.
