Rewritten Article:
Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman, stars of Deadpool & Wolverine, along with director Shawn Levy, have officially joined the elite billion-dollar box office club. The Marvel Studios and Disney summer blockbuster crossed the milestone on Saturday, raking in an estimated $1.029 billion globally by the weekend’s close. This includes $494.3 million in domestic sales and $535.2 million from international markets.
The audacious third entry in the Deadpool series, originally launched by 20th Century Fox, marks a significant victory for franchise mastermind Ryan Reynolds and Marvel Studios. It’s the first superhero film to hit the $1 billion mark since Spider-Man: No Way Home over two years ago, and the first Marvel/Disney MCU title to do so since Avengers: Endgame in 2019.
Moreover, Deadpool & Wolverine is on track to surpass Warner Bros. and Todd Phillips’ Joker ($1.079 billion) to become the highest-grossing R-rated film of all time, unadjusted for inflation. It already holds the top R-rated spot in North America and ranks No. 2 globally after overtaking Oppenheimer. Impressively, it matched The Avengers as the fourth-fastest MCU film to reach $1 billion, achieving this feat in just 19 days. The only MCU films to do so quicker are Avengers: Endgame (5 days), Avengers: Infinity War (11 days), and Spider-Man: No Way Home (12 days).
Deadpool & Wolverine is the 55th film to cross the $1 billion threshold and the 31st Disney release to achieve this, including three 20th Century Fox titles absorbed in the Disney-Fox merger. It’s also the 11th MCU film, including two Sony Spider-Man movies, Homecoming and No Way Home, to reach this milestone.
Additionally, it’s the second film of the year to enter the billion-dollar club after Disney/Pixar’s Inside Out 2, which now holds the title of the highest-grossing animated film ever, with nearly $1.6 billion in global sales. Disney remains the only studio to deliver back-to-back $1 billion films in a single year.
Since its debut over the July 26-28 weekend, Deadpool & Wolverine has broken record after record, quickly surpassing the lifetime earnings of the first two Deadpool films both domestically and globally within just two weekends. The original Deadpool grossed $363.1 million domestically and $782.6 million worldwide, while the sequel earned $318.5 million in the U.S. and $734.5 million globally.
As for where the film might ultimately land, projections suggest it could reach between $1.2 billion and $1.3 billion, reinforcing Reynolds’ claim that he and the filmmakers have succeeded in crafting the first four-quadrant, R-rated film.