‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ At $211M, Now The 6th Highest Opening Of All-Time At U.S. Box Office – Monday AM Update
MONDAY AM: It was bound to be bigger. Marvel Studios and Disney’s Deadpool & Wolverine is now the 6th biggest opening at the domestic B.O. with $211M in addition to breaking the record for an R-rated movie’s first weekend at the B.O. This is after a better-than-expected Sunday of $53.5M. The global opening is $444.1M now.
D&W outpegs the first weekend of 2015’s Jurassic World at $208.8M and now files behind Avengers: Endgame ($357.1M), Spider-Man: No Way Home ($260.1M), Avengers: Infinity War ($257.6M), Star Wars: The Force Awakens ($247.9M), Star Wars: The Last Jedi ($220M) among the top opening weekends at the box office.
More from Deadline
D&W is now the fourth highest superhero opening after Avengers: Endgame, Spider-Man: No Way Home and Avengers: Infinity War.
SUNDAY AM EARLY: On the heels of a killer Saturday night in Hall H at San Diego Comic-Con for Marvel, the Shawn Levy directed, produced and written Deadpool & Wolverine grossed $61.5M on Saturday, per Disney, for what is definitely a $205M opening weekend — just like we told you back in mid-June, per Quorum. There’s bound to be even more cash. Some felt it wasn’t possible for a R-rated movie — but here we are. Global is at $438.3M.
Do you want to know what Disney’s highest- grossing R-rated movie was prior to Deadpool & Wolverine? 1990’s Pretty Woman at $178.4M, and the opening for Deadpool & Wolverine buries the entire lifetime cume of that Julia Roberts-Richard Gere movie (unadjusted for inflation).
It’s also the eighth-highest opening of all-time, one of nine movies to open north of $200M — six of ’em belonging to Marvel. It’s also the fifth-biggest opening ever for a superhero movie. In addition to opening records, as we told you for Levy, Hugh Jackman, and Ryan Reynolds, D&W also notched the biggest July opening of all-time, ahead of The Lion King ($191.8M)
Per Box Office stat firm EntTelligence, Deadpool & Wolverine clocked 13.6M admissions stateside. The last time a film reached 13M patrons in a 3-day stretch was July 2023, with Barbie at 13.1M. Only Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness (13.8M) and Spider-Man: No Way Home (20M+) have had more, post pandemic.
Evident in their Hall H session, Marvel is out to extinguish the term “superhero fatigue” from the dictionary, and uphold their reputation as the only film franchise in history to count $30 billion-plus at the global box office. Not only is this evident in Disney/Marvel’s rallying of the R-rated superhero movie, but also in bringing the fan-loved Russo Brothers back for Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars; filmmakers who know how to handle epic-cliff-hanging storytelling with multiple characters.
Marvel, in the wake of such post Covid misfires as Eternals and The Marvels, is about doubling-down and making the movies even better in their quality control process than they did before. Deadpool & Wolverine was a movie that was shutdown by the actors strike, and when that ended, it would have been madness to get this movie out for the traditional Marvel May start of summer. Good things come to those who wait.
Beamed Levy this AM: “All of us who made Deadpool & Wolverine are completely gob smacked and thrilled by the way our movie has been embraced by audiences all over the world. So many people put their very best into this movie, and to see its heart embraced as much as its humor is everything we hoped for. Special shoutout to Asad Ayaz and the entire marketing and PR team at Disney worked tirelessly and relentlessly to spread the word and mount a campaign that was every bit as audacious as the movie we tried to make. Truly a dream team effort on this one. Making this movie has been the privilege and thrill of my career, and this astonishing weekend is one we’ll never forget.”
More praises:
“We are thrilled to see ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ bringing people to theaters for the biggest opening weekend ever for an R-rated movie,” says Michael O’Leary, president and CEO of the National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO). “This is the kind of movie you want to experience on the big screen, and the historic level of enthusiasm this weekend reminds us yet again that audiences know there is no experience like theatrical. We also know that when people go to the movies, they want to come back — so we are excited to capitalize on this weekend’s energy with a robust theatrical slate in months to come.”
In terms of the overperformance of this movie, it’s interesting to note the following:
–Huge walk-up business, with 41% saying that they bought their ticket day of.
–Parents took their kids, as the Screen Engine/Comscore PostTrak report shows 18% adult family members with 9% children. EntTelligence further supports that the last five MCU movies (all PG-13) had 21% of their audiences under the age of 17. R-films typically have 5% of the audience under the age of 17, while Deadpool & Wolverine had 11% under 17. Not that Disney intended for this to happen, but hey, the draw here is that it’s Marvel, a family brand and this movie is part of the multiverse.
–A big portion of the non-going movie public also came out, with 30% saying that they go to the movies ever other month, while 22% told PostTrak they only attend a few times a year.
–Evening and late-night moviegoing was robust, respectively with 30% coming out between 5PM-8PM and 16% after 8PM.
Updated, the Burbank AMC is still the high-grossing theater in the nation for the Ryan Reynolds-Hugh Jackman re-team at $372K.
Top reasons for going to D&W in PostTrak audiences exits: 53% said it was part of a franchise they love, while 45% cited the cast. Seventy-two percent said they want to see a sequel, that there’s lots more to explore.
Other miscellaneous on D&W:
All premium formats repped 30% of weekend ticket sales, with Imax accounting for $19.1M in North America, or 9% at 414 hubs ($46K per screen average). Global Imax on the film was $36.5M, the eighth-highest Imax global opening ever, just behind Spider-Man: No Way Home’s $37.1M debut. It’s the biggest July worldwide debut for Imax, and of course, the biggest R-rated global bow for them, in addition to being the fourth- highest global Imax MCU opening ever after Endgame, Infinity War and No Way Home..
“Deadpool & Wolverine delivered one of the biggest IMAX opening weekends of all time — continuing our hot start to the third quarter and furthering our momentum ahead of a fantastic slate over the next several years,” said Rich Gelfond, CEO of IMAX. “Kevin Feige and his team remarkably continue to break new creative ground, and we believe Deadpool & Wolverine will only leave fans wanting more ahead of several highly anticipated Filmed for IMAX Marvel releases in 2025.”
Adds Comscore Senior Media Analyst Paul Dergarabedian about this quintessential release date: “Late July has become arguably the sweetest spot on the summer calendar, and may have a bit of that box office pixie dust that helped create the Barbenheimer phenomenon last year, and now what has turned out to be a perfect home for Deadpool & Wolverine to make an enormous splash. Alas, the calendric chess game is a key element in the success of the box office derby.”
Per EntTelligence
Ticket Pricing (Jul 25 to 27):
Average General Admission – $15.06
Average Child – $12.80
Average Senior $13.21
28% of the audience saw the film in Premium paying:
Average General Admission – $18.38
Average Child – $16.01
Average Senior $16.43
It’s not often that Disney has a marketing campaign for an R-rated movie, and Pretty Woman might just be the last one they did for a tentpole. More recently, they had Poor Things, which grossed $117.6M and won four Oscars. The studio’s D&W campaign sought out to capture the spirit of the unlikely duo and iconic BFFs, with irreverent and edgy activations on a big scale. If Barbie was the summer of pink, the D&W is the summer of red and yellow.
Kicking off the campaign was the Super Bowl trailer, which was the most-viewed of all-time at 365M views in 24 hours; the title reveal also occurring with that spot. There was exclusive footage shown at CinemaCon, where Levy won director of the year (April 11); a second trailer synced with Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes (April 22).
Tickets went on sale on May 20 and hit a record-breaking $8M in first 24 hours—the most presale tickets on Fandango year to date. Other beats included an in-theater silence your phone PSA (May 24); collectible popcorn bucket announced (May 30); Best Friends Day celebrated (June 8); Peggy/Dogpool Britain’s Ugliest Dog announced (June 20); soundtrack announced (July 17), Spotify playlist launched and final trailer released (July 19); and the star-studded world premiere in NY (July 22).
Overall total weekend for all movies is coming in at $280M–$285M, per Comscore, which is the seventh-highest weekend ever; the top being April 26-28, 2019 when Avengers: Endgame led all movies to a $402M marketplace.
1.) Deadpool & Wolverine (Dis) 4,210 theaters Fri $96M, Sat $61.5M Sun $47.5M 3-day $205M/Wk 1
2.) Twisters (Uni/WB) 4,151 theaters, Fri $10.3M Sat $13.8M Sun $11.1M, 3-day $35.3M (-57%), Total $154.9M/Wk 2
3.) Despicable Me 4 (Uni) 3,610 (-502) theaters, Fri $4.4M Sat $5.5M Sun $4.1M 3-day $14.2M (-42%), Total $290.9M/Wk 4
4.) Inside Out 2 (Dis) 3,150 (-475) theaters Fri $2.5M Sat $3.3M Sun $2.5M 3-day $8.3M (-35%) Total $613.4M/Wk 7
Highest-grossing animated movie ever beating Incredibles 2‘s $608.5M!!
5.) Longlegs (NEON) 2,732 (-118) theatres, Fri $2.2M Sat $2.6M Sun $1.9M, 3-day $6.7M (-43%), Total $58.6M/Wk 3
6.) A Quiet Place: Day One (Par) 1,932 (-981) theaters, Fri $955K Sat $1.2M Sun $830K 3-day $3M (-52%), Total $134.2M/Wk 5
7.) Bad Boys Ride or Die (Sony) 1,006 (-710) theaters, Fri $390K Sat $540K Sun $345K, 3-day $1.27M (-52%), Total $191.7M/Wk 8
8.) The Fabulous Four (BST) 1,045 theaters, Fri $365K Sat $358K Sun $286K 3-day $1M/Wk 1
9.) Fly Me to the Moon (App/Sony) 1,314 (-2042) locations, Fri $220K Sat $320K Sun $210K 3-day $750K (-77%) Total $19.1M/Wk 3
10) Raayan (PMP) 133 theaters, Fri $137K, Sat $138K Sun $102K 3-day $378K, Total $453K, Wk 1
SATURDAY AM UPDATE: Marvel is back, baby. Disney is reporting a $96M first day/previews for Deadpool & Wolverine, the sixth-highest opening ever that the U.S./Canada box office has seen. The revised 3-day estimate is $195M-$205M, easily the best openings ever for filmmaker Shawn Levy (besting Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian‘s $54M), and stars Ryan Reynolds (beating Deadpool‘s $132.4M) and Hugh Jackman (ahead of 2006’s X-Men: The Last Stand‘s $102.7M).
At $195M-$205M, that will put D&W as either the eighth- or ninth-best opening at the domestic B.O. of all-time, behind Avengers: Endgame ($357.1M), Spider-Man: No Way Home ($260.1M), Avengers: Infinity War ($257.6M), Star Wars: The Force Awakens ($247.9M), Star Wars: The Last Jedi ($220M), Jurassic World ($208.8M), The Avengers ($207.4M), and Black Panther ($202M).
D&W falls in line among top opening domestic B.O. days behind Avengers: Endgame ($157.4M), Spider-Man: No Way Home ($121.9M), Star Wars: The Force Awakens ($119.1M), Avengers: Infinity War ($106.3M), and Star Wars: The Last Jedi ($104.6M).
Yesterday’s $55M below was for the sole Friday minus previews. With previews, that noon estimate was $93.5M, and evening showtimes catapulted D&W higher.
Levy, Reynolds, and Jackman have injected the Marvel Cinematic Universe with Sildenafil, as the brand is officially back with an awesome ‘A’ Cinemascore for the Deadpool franchise, which received its third straight “A” from the audience polling group.
Imax and PLFs are only repping a third of the gross so far, with another 17% from 3D. East and West are the best for D&W. Updated demos are 63% men, 37% women, 18-24s the largest demo at 31%, with 18-34 repping 60%. Diversity demos are 25% Caucasian, 32% Latino, 17% Black, and 10% Asian and 6% Native American. Adam Aron’s AMC Burbank is the top-grossing theater in the country at $240K.
Tonight is Marvel’s big panel at Hall H at Comic-Con San Diego. We wonder if the Deadpool & Wolverine gang will come back with an encore and more news…
The overall weekend is expected to gross $275M for all movies. Of course, D&W rep at least 71% of that, but what’s clear is the latter part of July is a damn great time to open a movie. That number for all films is the biggest we’ve seen in a while, though not as high as Barbenheimer’s weekend of $310M or Avengers: Endgame overall weekend (last of April 2019) which did $402M.
1.) Deadpool & Wolverine (Dis) 4,210 theaters Fri $96M, 3-day $195M-$205M/Wk 1
2.) Twisters (Uni/WB) 4,151 theaters, Fri $10.2M (-68%), 3-day $36M (-56%), Total $155.6M/Wk 2
3.) Despicable Me 4 (Uni) 3,610 (-502) theaters, Fri $4.36M (-41%) 3-day $14.5M (-41%), Total $291.2M/Wk 4
4.) Inside Out 2 (Dis) 3,150 (-475) theaters Fri $2.5M (-32%) 3-day $8.7M (-33%) Total $613.7M/Wk 7
Disney has even more to celebrate this weekend: The sequel officially becomes the highest-grossing Pixar movie ever at the domestic B.O., and the highest-grossing animated movie ever beating Incredibles 2‘s $608.5M.
5.) Longlegs (NEON) 2,732 (-118) theatres, Fri $2.2M (-43%), 3-day $6.9M (-43%), Total $58.7M/Wk 3
6..) A Quiet Place: Day One (Par) 1,932 (-981) theaters, Fri $935K 3-day $3.05M (-52%), Total $134.2M/Wk 5
7.) Bad Boys Ride or Die (Sony) 1,006 (-710) theaters, Fri $370K, 3-day $1.2M (-55%), Total $191.6M/Wk 8
8.) The Fabulous Four (BST) 1,045 theaters, Fri $365K 3-day $930K/Wk 1
9.) Fly Me to the Moon (App/Sony) 1,314 (-2042) locations, Fri $215K, 3-day $730K (-78%) Total $19M/Wk 3
10) Raayan (PMP) 133 theaters, Fri $140K, 3-day $440K, Total $500K, Wk 1
FRIDAY MIDDAY UPDATE: Deadpool & Wolverine is on its way to the biggest opening for an R-rated movie with a $55M Friday (not including previews) that will put it around $180M, per sources, with plenty of room to grow. Keeping a pulse on walk-up business, particularly during late-night is tricky. All along this summer, Latino and Hispanic audiences have walked-up in bulk, changing the commercial prospects of tentpoles’ fates for the better, and Thursday night as we told you they repped 35% of all D&W ticket buyers.
At $180M, D&W would be the 14th-best domestic opening of all time, pegging ahead of Captain America: Civil War ($179.1M, 2016) and just below Black Panther: Wakanda Forever ($181.3M, 2022). Wakanda Forever turned in a first day/previews of $84.2M, while Civil War did $75.5M.
The Box Office Company reports that 43% of the weekend’s showtimes for all movies are for D&W. It believes the pic has a shot at becoming the first R-rated movie to debut to $200M.
Exclaimed one rival studio executive about the success of this weekend for the pic, “This movie is going to defy any comp.”
RELATED: Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman & More Surprise Comic-Con With ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ Screening
UPDATED AFTER EXCLUSIVE: Marvel Studios’ and Disney’s Deadpool & Wolverine is settling in at a robust $38.5M, still the best R-rated preview we’ve ever seen at the domestic box office, and the eighth-biggest preview of all-time.
RELATED: How To Stream The ‘Wolverine’ Movies In Chronological Order
That number out-pegs the preview night of Marvel’s Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness in 2022 ($36M, 3-day of $187.4M), and it’s just under Avengers: Infinity War ($39M), which rallied all the way to $257.6M in 2018.
Out of the gate, on Screen Engine and ComScore’s PostTrak, the movie from director/producer/co-writer Shawn Levy has won over the masses with 5 stars/96% positive and an outstanding 85% definite recommend, which is what tentpoles are made of. Deadpool & Wolverine easily will become his highest opening yet, besting the $54.1M start of Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian in 2009.
Best grades for the movie came from women under 25 at 100%, but they were the smallest to show up at 10%. Men over 25 were in bulk at 45% (97% grade), followed by women over 25 at 24% (96%) and men under 25 at 21% (91% grade). Male-women turnout was 66%/34%, while under/over 25 was 31%/69%. The 18-34 crowd repped 60% of Thursday night’s draw, while over 25 was 69%. Diversity draw was strong Latino and Hispanic at 35% tied with Caucasian at 35%, 15% Black and 11% Asian.
RELATED: ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ Soundtrack: All the Songs You’ll Hear
Quorum tracking reports this morning that the final day-of verdict for Deadpool & Wolverine with “Unaided” reached 17%, the best since Barbie (32%) and Oppenheimer (20%). And with 70% interest, it is only the second film after Spider-Man: No Way Home to reach that level.” Quorum’s projection for the weekend: $190M-$219M. Still even if D&W comes in at $170M, that’s something to behold still — the best of the year and the best since Barbie a year ago.
RELATED: As ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ Stomps On Superhero Fatigue, Studios Debate Comic-Con’s Relevance
In other box office news, Universal/Warner Bros/Amblin’s Twisters ends the week with $119.6M after a $6.5M Thursday, -35%. The Lee Isaac Chung-directed movie is expected to ease -55% against D&W.
EXCLUSIVE: Moments before Deadpool & Wolverine stars Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman, filmmaker Shawn Levy and Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige take stage at Comic-Con’s Hall H, we can tell you first per myriad box office sources that the movie is headed to a record preview night for an R-rated pic. It is eyeing $35M at this minute but very well could wind up north of $40M+ by morning — which wouldn’t be shocking as bawdy movies play late into the night.
Anything north of $31M would make Deadpool & Wolverine one of the top nine preview nights ever. The badass duo already have trampled on the previous R-rated preview record, held by Deadpool 2 with $18.6M in 2018. That movie filed a $53M Friday, of which Thursday previews repped 35% for a 3-day of $125.5M. As we told you, the first Deadpool owns the R-rated 3-day record at $132.4M. That pic did $12.7M in previews, 27% of its first Friday’s $47.3M.
The weekend and the world is Deadpool & Wolverine‘s oyster with 81% certified fresh reviews on Rotten Tomatoes and a stellar 97% audience rating. Read Deadline’s review here, and watch the pic’s latest trailer below.
How high does Deadpool & Wolverine go? Everyone keeps handicapping that it won’t have the momentum of a PG-13 film. It’s uncharted territory, for sure. Note that Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness posted $36M in previews in 2022, which got it to a $187.4M 3-day, while Avengers: Infinity War did $39M in previews and turned in a 3-day of $257.6M in 2018.
RELATED: Comic-Con 2024 Schedule: The Top Movie & TV Panels And Events In San Diego
Word is that those fans getting a seat in Hall H will get to see the Levy-directed, -produced and -written Deadpool & Wolverine for free.
Be sure to watch Natalie Sitek’s coverage of the Deadpool & Wolverine panel tonight on @Deadline X.
Best of Deadline
Sign up for Deadline's Newsletter. For the latest news, follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram.
Solve the daily Crossword
