Ahead of what is expected to be a record-breaking opening weekend, Deadpool & Wolverine has already pulled in some impressive box-office numbers from Thursday previews in the US. The biggest Thursday opening of the year–beating Inside Out 2’s $13 million record–Deadpool and Wolverine brought in $38.5 million in domestic ticket sales.
According to Variety, this is also the highest preview gross ever for an R-rated movie and much bigger than the Thursday previews for the previous two Deadpool movies. In comparison, Deadpool made $12.7 million in Thursday-night previews back in 2016, and Deadpool 2 improved on that figure with an $18.6 million haul. This weekend will likely see even more box-office records broken, as Deadpool and Wolverine will be available in every major international market except China.
Deadpool & Wolverine is predicted to earn between $160 million-$170 million at the domestic box office this weekend, while global box-office numbers are tracking an opening weekend of between $180 million-$190 million. If it reaches these numbers, Deadpool & Wolverine could have the biggest opening weekend for an R-rated movie of all time, beating the first Deadpool film’s $132.4 million record. Compared to Inside Out 2 again, that film made $154.2 million in its US opening weekend, while Barbie earned a huge $162 million in its July 2023 opening weekend.
If the Deadpool threequel manages to reach the $190 million US opening weekend, that’ll be the second-highest US opening-weekend in history, trailing the $260.1 million earned by Spider-Man: No Way Home. With Taylor Swift mobilizing her fanbase to go see the film, the odds are looking good so far for the only Marvel movie of 2024.
GameSpot’s Deadpool & Wolverine review scored the film at 4/10, and other reviews have been mixed on the long-awaited team-up between the two Marvel characters.
