It has long been clear that Deadpool & Wolverine would become one of this summer’s (and this year’s) biggest box office successes; it was really only a question of how big. And now we have the first part of the answer.
According to Deadline, we can now confirm that the film has had an exceptionally strong opening weekend. It has grossed $438 million worldwide. This sets a record for the biggest opening weekend ever for an R-rated film.
Now the final part of the question is how far this success will go and what the total earnings will end up being. Superhero movies are often very frontloaded in their ticket sales, with fans eager to see the films in the first week after release, which can lead to significant drops in revenue after the first week — although there are exceptions. Only time will tell if Deadpool & Wolverine will also claim the record for the highest-grossing R-rated film of all time.