Disney and Marvel Studios‘ “Deadpool & Wolverine” clawed up a massive $96 million from 4,210 locations across Friday and preview screenings. That’s far and away the biggest domestic opening day of the year — ahead of the $62 million that “Inside Out 2” nabbed in June. Not only that, it’s also the largest ever for an R-rated feature and the sixth-highest of all time, not adjusted for inflation.
That’s an epic win for the merc with the mouth and a big bounce back for Marvel Studios, which is coming off of its worst domestic performance ever with “The Marvels” last fall. The records will continue to fall this weekend as the Ryan Reynolds–Hugh Jackman buddy comedy heads toward one of the biggest domestic debuts of all time.
It’s been a long road to theaters for “Deadpool & Wolverine.” Reynolds’ previous outing as the superhero bowed in the summer of 2018, before 20th Century Fox was acquired by the Walt Disney Company. (Much of the hype around this latest entry involves how comic book characters that were under the Fox umbrella, such as the X-Men, will be incorporated into the Marvel Cinematic Universe.) Then there was a release date bump amid last year’s WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. In recent weeks, Reynolds and Jackman have gone all-out on a marketing blitz, capped with an appearance at San Diego Comic-Con on Thursday alongside director Shawn Levy and co-star Emma Corrin.
For the fans, “Deadpool & Wolverine” is meeting that hype. The action comedy nabbed a glowing “A” grade through audience survey firm Cinema Score. (Both prior “Deadpool” entries also landed that score.) Reviews have been largely positive too, though the event status of the film has seemed inevitable for some time now. How such a fan-service-first film holds after the first weekend of eager viewers is up in the air, but there’s certainly a lot of positivity on its side. With these opening numbers, the film is already looking to be a huge success with a $200 million production budget.
Even with a huge hit arriving on the scene though, there’s still some business for the holdovers. Amblin’s “Twisters” took in $10.2 million on Friday with a projection for a $36 million haul through the disaster sequel’s sophomore outing. That’d be a 56% drop from opening — not shabby for a blockbuster contending against a much-hyped Marvel production. After one week in theaters, the Universal release is already the ninth-biggest domestic hit of the year. Total gross should reach about $155.6 million after its first 10 days.
Universal also gets third place with “Despicable Me 4,” which is looking at $14.5 million in its fourth outing. The Illumination animated production will overtake “Dune: Part Two” ($282 million) this weekend to become the second-highest-grossing domestic release of the year.
It will be behind Disney’s “Inside Out 2,” still pulling in significant business in its seventh weekend of release. The Pixar sequel will nab fourth place after earning $2.5 million on Friday.