The superhero sequel Deadpool & Wolverine has officially joined the billion-dollar club, grossing $1.029 billion at the global box office. The film, starring Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool and Hugh Jackman as Wolverine, has earned $494.3 million in North America and $535.1 million internationally. This achievement makes Deadpool & Wolverine the second film of 2024, after Disney’s Inside Out 2 with $1.558 billion, to surpass the billion-dollar milestone.
The film is poised to overtake 2019’s Joker ($1.07 billion) as the highest-grossing R-rated film in history. Deadpool & Wolverine marks a much-needed victory for Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU), which has faced challenges with recent releases like Eternals, Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, and The Marvels. While post-pandemic MCU films such as Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness ($956 million), Black Panther: Wakanda Forever (2022, $859 million), and Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 (2023, $846 million) approached the $1 billion mark, Deadpool & Wolverine is only the second MCU film to surpass the milestone since 2019’s Avengers: Endgame.
Directed by Shawn Levy, Deadpool & Wolverine is the first MCU movie to feature comic book characters that were previously licensed to 20th Century Fox. The film brings together a notable cast of Fox-era heroes, including Jennifer Garner as Elektra, Chris Evans as the Human Torch from Fantastic Four, and Wesley Snipes as Blade, alongside Deadpool and Wolverine on a mission to save the universe.