Deadpool & Wolverine box office explained: $1 billion and counting

The Merc with a Mouth is not only making waves across the multiverse, he’s smashing the movie industry, too. Just look at the Deadpool & Wolverine box office figures if you don’t believe us.

After a couple of years of mediocrity, the MCU has been well and truly resuscitated thanks to Wade Wilson. Our glowing Deadpool & Wolverine review showers the new movie with praise, and rightly so.

Honestly, it’s a film that might even need repeat viewings, especially if you want to catch all the cool cameos in Deadpool 3.

That’s great news for Marvel, then. The movie has made a killing already, so let’s look at where the Deadpool & Wolverine box office could end up on the list of the highest grossing movies of all time.

Deadpool & Wolverine’s box office so far

The movie has now made just over $1.029 billion worldwide in its theatrical run.

Deadpool 3 raked in $441 million in its opening weekend, including a massive $211.4 million domestic opening in the US.

That helped the Marvel movie break plenty of records right off the bat. Not only is it the highest grossing R-rated opening of all time, but it’s actually the biggest global opening since Avatar 2 ($439 million).

Not content with defeating the Na’vi, Deadpool 3 is also the highest July opening weekend of all time, beating The Lion King ($191.8 million).

It’s also comfortably the biggest domestic opening weekend for both Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman (previously Deadpool at $132.4 million, and X-Men: The Last Stand at $102.7 million).

All in all, the Deadpool & Wolverine box office figures make it the sixth-highest opening weekend of all time domestically.

Since then, the movie pulled in another $184 million domestically in its second weekend, and a further $100 million in the US in its third weekend. At the time of writing, Deadpool 3 has earned $494.3 million domestically, and its international gross stands at $535.2 million.

Billion-dollar club

Deadpool & Wolverine hit $1 billion at the box office by its third weekend. The Marvel movie continues to hold strong, and is still pulling in over $100 million each week.

Marvel Studios

Deadpool could see a little drop off in the next week or so, with the Alien: Romulus release date coming up on August 16.

Still, you’re likely to see superhero movie fans revisiting theaters fairly consistently while they still have the chance to see Deadpool & Wolverine on the big screen.

We predict the Deadpool & Wolverine box office will end up at around $1.3 billion. There’s every chance it could push around the $1.5 billion mark. That would give it a genuine shot at grossing more than the previous two Deadpool movies combined.

The Deadpool 3 budget was roughly $200 million, with a further $100 million used for marketing. That means it’s already cleared its initial outlay for Marvel, and judging by predictions, it could easily become a hugely-profitable venture.

The bigger picture

It’s been a strong start for Deadpool & Wolverine, with the movie achieving the fourth-highest superhero opening weekend of all time. The only films to beat it are, predictably, Avengers: Endgame, Spider-Man: No Way Home and Avengers: Infinity War.

Marvel Studios

This is the 34th consecutive Marvel movie to score top spot on the weekly box office, too. Yes, Marvel literally never misses.

Deadpool and his buddy Wolverine will have some way to go before they can actually kick it with the top dogs of the MCU, though.

Endgame ($2.7 billion) and Infinity War ($2 billion) lead the way, with No Way Home ($1.9 billion) not too far behind. There’s a fairly big gap before you get to Avengers Assemble ($1.5 billion).

As we said before, Deadpool & Wolverine could just about reach Assemble’s levels if it holds firm over the next few weeks. It’s more likely to be competing with Age of Ultron ($1.4 billion), Black Panther ($1.35 billion), and Iron Man 3 ($1.2 billion) though.

Interestingly, even if no one else went to watch Deadpool & Wolverine now, it would still have grossed more than Doctor Strange 2 ($955 million), Spider-Man: Homecoming ($880 million), Guardians of the Galaxy 2 ($863 million), Black Panther 2 ($858 million), and Thor: Ragnarok ($853 million).

It currently sits at number 11 on the ranking of Marvel movies for global box office takings.

Deadpool & Wolverine is also set to overtake Joker as the highest-grossing R-rated movie in the next few days. Joaquin Phoenix’s movie brought in $1.079 billion at the box office.

That’s all on the Deadpool & Wolverine box office for now, but we’ll be checking those numbers regularly (as we’re sure Kevin Feige will, too). In the meantime, check out our Deadpool 3 ending explained, or find all the Easter eggs in the movie with us.

You can also look ahead to upcoming Marvel movies like Avengers Doomsday (which’ll probably need to make $5 billion to pay for Robert Downey Jr’s return).