“Deadpool & Wolverine,” the latest installment in Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe (and the first to be headlined by comic book characters that were previously licensed to 20th Century Fox), looks to close out the July box office with a bang.
The superhero sequel, which teams Ryan Reynolds‘ snarky Merc With a Mouth with Hugh Jackman‘s gruff Logan, is projected to collect a mighty $160 million to $170 million from North American theaters over the weekend. However, some box office experts suggest that several factors, such as excitement for the return of Jackman’s brooding mutant, his long-awaited odd coupling with Reynolds and talk of surprise cameos, could propel the film’s three-day tally to $190 to $200 million.
Wherever the final number ends up, “Deadpool & Wolverine” will likely surpass 2016’s “Deadpool” ($132 million) as the biggest R-rated opening weekend in history. It’ll also easily land as the best debut of 2024, overtaking another Disney movie, Pixar’s sequel “Inside Out 2,” with $155 million.
At the international box office, “Deadpool & Wolverine” is targeting $180 million to $190 million in its first weekend of release. Based on estimates, the tentpole is aiming to clear a heroic $350 million to $390 million globally through Sunday. Disney spent about $200 million to produce and roughly another $100 million to promote the movie.
The third “Deadpool” entry looks to assuage doubts about the viability of the MCU. Though the comic book giant has delivered an unprecedented string of blockbusters across 33 films over 15 years, it has stumbled with more recent tentpoles like “Eternals,” “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” and “The Marvels.” In response, the company is trying to slow its cadence of spinoffs, sequels and TV series, leaving “Deadpool & Wolverine” as 2024’s lone Marvel Studios movie — the first time that’s happened since 2012’s “The Avengers.”
Directed by Shawn Levy, the comic book adventure — a sequel to 2016’s “Deadpool” and 2018’s “Deadpool 2” as well as the 34th entry in the MCU — follows the Merc’s alter ego Wade Wilson as he leaves behind the mercenary life to become a used car salesman. But all that changes when he’s recruited by the organization known as the Time Variance Authority — which exists outside of time and space to monitor the multiverse — to help with a new mission. He teams with a reluctant Wolverine to save Deadpool’s home universe.
R-ratings aren’t new to the “Deadpool” franchise, but this installment is the first in Disney’s family-friendly MCU to earn that raunchy restriction. However, the restrictive grade isn’t expected to limit the film’s reach. After all, the first movie grossed a sizable $782 million globally while the sequel became the highest-grossing R-rated movie in history at the time with $785 million in worldwide ticket sales. (“Joker” has since surpassed that milestone with $1.07 billion globally.)
Though “Deadpool & Wolverine” will crush the box office competition, last weekend’s champion “Twisters” is poised to post another solid showing. The disaster epic, starring Glen Powell and Daisy Edgar-Jones, is aiming to add $36 million to $40 million in its sophomore outing, marking a 50% to 55% decline from its stellar $81.5 million debut. Overall, this is shaping up to become one of the biggest box office weekends of the year.