Deadpool is “bigger than Jesus” after breaking one of America’s biggest box office records
Newmarket Films/Marvel StudiosDeadpool & Wolverine is about to hit $1 billion at the box office, but that’s not its biggest achievement: it’s finally dethroned one of the longest-standing record holders in American cinema.
Let’s take stock of every record Deadpool & Wolverine has broken so far: it achieved the sixth biggest domestic opening of all time, the biggest opening ever for an R-rated movie (in the US and internationally), and it’s already passed its predecessors’ lifetime runs in less than two weeks.
Inside Out 2 is currently the highest-grossing movie of 2024, with a gross of $1.55 million. However, much like Barbie leaping ahead of Super Mario, the Merc with a Mouth is poised to keep racking up those dollars and take first place.
To put its success into further context, it’s beaten a box office record held for two decades, one that Joker couldn’t even top. After its second weekend in cinemas, Deadpool 3 is officially the biggest R-rated movie of all time in the US, taking the top spot from The Passion of the Christ.
Its domestic haul stands at $395 million, with Mel Gibson’s biblical epic amassing $370m during its unprecedented run in 2004.
Only six other R-rated films have gone past the $300m barrier: both Deadpool movies, Joker, It: Chapter One, Oppenheimer, and American Sniper.
“Deadpool is now BIGGER than Jesus,” MyTimeToShineHello joked, while One Take News tweeted: “By passing The Passion of the Christ at the box office, Deadpool has LITERALLY become Marvel Jesus.”
“The Passion of the Deadpool reigns supreme. And there is also the Wolverine guy, he’s pretty good too,” a third user wrote, while another posted: “America wants graphically violent movies about men who cannot die.”
As others have pointed out, Deadpool 2 even references Gibson’s movie. “Now I’m even talked about in the same sentence as Jesus… The Passion of the Christ, then me, at least domestically – we beat them overseas, where there’s no such thing as religion,” he quips.
Check out our full rundown of Deadpool & Wolverine’s box office haul so far, all of its cameos, and our ranking of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s movies.