‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ Smashes Records to Become the Top-Grossing R-Rated Film Ever

Marvel Studios and Disney’s Deadpool & Wolverine has officially become the highest-grossing R-rated film of all time at the global box office.

The film has earned a staggering $1.086 billion worldwide—$516.8 million from domestic markets and $568.8 million from international territories—within just 23 days. This achievement marks Disney’s second consecutive $1 billion hit, following Pixar’s Inside Out 2, which grossed $1.46 billion globally. Disney is now the only studio to have accomplished this remarkable feat within a single year.

Directed by Shawn Levy and starring Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman, Deadpool & Wolverine is the first superhero film to reach the $1 billion mark since Sony and Marvel’s Spider-Man: No Way Home two and a half years ago, and the first Marvel/Disney MCU film to do so since Avengers: Endgame in 2019.

Since its debut over the July 26-28 weekend, Deadpool & Wolverine has continuously shattered records. It opened with an extraordinary $444 million globally, setting the record for the highest-grossing global opening for an R-rated film ever, surpassing the original Deadpool from 2016.

While Logan had a strong box office performance, Deadpool & Wolverine quickly surpassed it, along with its two predecessors, making it the biggest opening in the careers of Jackman, Reynolds, and Levy.

Previously, Joker, starring Joaquin Phoenix, grossed $1.079 billion globally in 2019. By August, Deadpool & Wolverine had broken a 20-year-old record held by Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ, becoming the highest-grossing R-rated film ever domestically with over $378 million in ticket sales.

Marvel Studios head Kinev Feige expressed his gratitude to fans in a heartfelt message on the studio’s X account, stating, “It’s fantastic to see that audiences are loving this movie as much as we all loved making it. All those conversations were worth it!”

Feige’s note was accompanied by a humorous memo to Reynolds and Levy detailing which drug terms were prohibited in the film—an inside joke that Deadpool himself playfully references in the movie.

“Cocaine is the one thing that Feige said is off-limits,” Wade Wilson quips to his roommate Blind Al. “They know all the slang terms; they have a list.