Deadpool & Wolverine sets a new high mark for R-rated films

After 10 days in theatres, Deadpool & Wolverine is already the highest-grossing R-rated movie ever, not accounting for inflation.

In its second weekend, the Marvel Studios blockbuster starring Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman continued to steamroll through movie theatres, collecting US$97 million (NZ$162.6 million) according to studio estimates on Sunday. That raised its two-week total to US$395.6 million (NZ$663 million), pushing it past the long-reigning top R-rated feature, The Passion of the Christ, which held that mark for 20 years with US$370 million (NZ$620 million) domestic.

Worldwide, the Shawn Levy-directed Deadpool & Wolverine has quickly amassed US$824.1 million (NZ$1.4 billion) in ticket sales, a total that already surpasses the global hauls of the first two Deadpool films. The 2016 original grossed US$782.6 million (NZ$1.3 billion) worldwide; the 2018 sequel collected $734.5 million (NZ$1.2 billion).

The weekend’s primary challengers both struggled.

M. Night Shyamalan’s latest thriller, Trap, managed a modest opening of US$15.6 million (NZ$26.1 million) at 3181 theatres for Warner Bros. The film, starring Josh Hartnett as a serial killer hunted by police at a pop concert, didn’t screen for critics before opening day and scored lower in reviews (48% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes) than Shyamalan’s films typically do. Audiences gave it a C+ CinemaScore.

With a budget of about US$35 million (NZ$58.6 million) that Shyamalan largely finances himself, Trap didn’t need a huge opening. But it may struggle to break even.

“This is a soft opening for an M. Night Shyamalan suspense crime thriller,” wrote David A. Gross, a film consultant who publishes a newsletter for Franchise Entertainment. “The writer/director’s movies out-earn other original thrillers by a wide margin, and that’s true here, but this start is not on the level of recent Shyamalan films.”

The live-action Harold and the Purple Crayon, adapted from the classic kids book, also didn’t make much of a mark in theatres. The Sony Pictures release debuted with US$6 million (NZ$10 million). It, too, got dinged by critics (28% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes), though audiences (an A- CinemaScore) liked it more. Harold and the Purple Crayon, which stars Zachary Levi, cost about US$40 million (NZ$67 million) to make.

Twisters, the Universal Pictures disaster film, continues to kick up a storm at the box office. It held in second place with US$22.7 million (NZ$38 million) in its third weekend. Lee Isaac Chung’s sequel to the 1996 original, starring Glen Powell, Daisy Edgar-Jones and Anthony Ramos, has racked up US$195.6 million (NZ$328 million) domestically. While it has made less of an impression overseas, Twisters is holding particularly well in North American theatres, down just 35% from the week prior.

Hollywood closed July with its best month in a year and its first US$1 billion (NZ$1.6 billion) month since July 2023. While comparisons to last year aren’t favourable — July was when Barbie and Oppenheimer launched — a pair of Walt Disney Co. releases in Inside Out 2 and Deadpool & Wolverine (the two top films of the year) powered a banner month for the movie industry.

There will still reminders, though, of harder times in cinemas earlier in the spring and early summer, when a sparse release calendar and a few notable flops put the box office at a deficit. On Friday, AMC Theatres, the largest North American chain, posted a US$32.8 million (NZ$55 million) loss for the second quarter of 2024.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at US and Canadian theatres, according to Comscore. Final domestic figures will be released on Monday.