If you thought that the mystique of Deadpool & Wolverine would wear off in its second weekend of work, think again. For the second straight weekend, the R-rated superhero film took the box office by storm.
Deadpool & Wolverine earned an estimated $97 million in North America. That’s a healthy weekend no matter how you slice it with your adamantium claws. But it’s especially notable because superhero films aren’t exactly known for their staying power. Typically, MCU flicks lose anywhere from 60 to 70% of their weekend-over-weekend audience. But this juggernaut dropped a scant 53% to become the eighth-biggest second weekend in cinematic history.
Oh, and it also surpassed The Passion of the Christ as North America’s biggest R-rated film of all time (not adjusted for inflation, of course). Deadpool & Wolverine has earned $395.6 million in its run thus far, while The Passion banked $371.1 million back in 2004. The superhero flick is already the year’s second-biggest film, trailing only Inside Out 2 and its $626.9 million.
How is Deadpool & Wolverine doing overseas, you ask? Even better, I answer. It has earned $428 million in international markets, bringing its worldwide gross to an already staggering $824.1 million. Yep, Deadpool & Wolverine is drawing people into theaters like Magneto draws in paper clips.
Twisters, another action-packed popcorn muncher, finished second to Deadpool & Wolverine, racking up nearly $22.7 million. That pushes its overall gross to a rather impressive $195.6 million.
A newcomer, M. Night Shyamalan’s Trap, skulked into third place with $15.6 million—about what prognosticators were expecting. That pushed it ahead of two animated box-office stalwarts: Despicable Me 4 finished fourth with nearly $11.3 million, and Inside Out 2 collected another $6.7 million to land in fifth.
Another newbie, Harold and the Purple Crayon, couldn’t quite draw itself a place in the top five. It finished sixth with $6 million. And The Firing Squad—the new Christian film from director Timothy Chey—landed in eighth place with $1.6 million.
2 Responses
Nice use of the words “Mystique” and “Storm.” I bet you were testing to see how many people here would catch that (I was also hoping for “gambit” since big-budget R-rated movies are a rarity and “beast” since the box-office returns certainly paid off).
This movie will probably surpass Oppenheimer (it needs another $150 million worldwide to do so) and could surpass Joker (which notably did not receive a China release but so far has done much better in international markets) if it gets another $50 million on top of that. I’m still hoping for a PG-13 cut a la what Deadpool 2 got.
Also, if I may make a suggestion, talking about big-budget R-rated movies got me curious to see how much money Scorsese’s “The Irishman” made, since its limited theatrical release wasn’t really the main draw for that specific film. I was wondering if you guys might consider adding a film’s run time to its respective page’s sky-blue introductory panel, which would come in handy not just for big-budget epics (“extended-cut” re-releases also being noted) but also for children’s films so parents could plan their scheduling.