Jay Maidment / © Marvel / © Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures / Courtesy of Everett Collection
Disney and Marvel’s “Deadpool & Wolverine” took in $96 million from 4,210 locations on Friday and preview screenings. That’s the biggest domestic opening of the year — ahead of the $62 million that “Inside Out 2” took in in June. Not only that, it’s also the biggest R-rated film of all time and the sixth-highest-grossing film of all time, without adjusting for inflation.
It’s an epic win for the man with the big mouth and a strong comeback for Marvel Studios, which is coming off its worst-ever domestic showing with “The Marvels” last fall. The records will continue to fall this week as the Ryan Reynolds-Hugh Jackman comedy heads toward one of the biggest domestic debuts ever.
It’s been a long road to theaters for “Deadpool & Wolverine.” Reynolds’ previous outing as the superhero ended in the summer of 2018, before Walt Disney acquired 20th Century Fox. (Much of the buzz around this latest installment has to do with how it will integrate comic book characters that were once under Fox’s umbrella, like the X-Men, into the Marvel Cinematic Universe.) Then there was the release date push amid last year’s Writers Guild of America, Screen Actors Guild and Screen Actors Guild strikes. In recent weeks, Reynolds and Jackman have been going all out with a marketing campaign, capped off by an appearance at San Diego Comic-Con on Thursday alongside director Shawn Levy and co-star Emma Corrin.
For fans, “Deadpool & Wolverine” lives up to those expectations. The action-comedy earned an “A” grade from audience polling firm Cinema Score. (The previous two “Deadpool” films also earned the same grade.) Reviews have been largely positive, too, though the film’s storyline has seemed doomed for some time now. How such a fan-service-first film will fare after a first weekend of enthusiastic audiences is unclear, but there’s certainly plenty of positivity on its side. With these opening numbers, the film looks set to be a big hit on a $200 million production budget.
Despite the film’s huge success, there are still some works to be done. Amblin’s “Twisters” took in $10.2 million on Friday, with projections for a second day of release that could reach $36 million. That’s down 56 percent from its opening — not bad for a blockbuster that’s competing with a Marvel blockbuster. After just one week in theaters, the Universal release is the ninth-biggest domestic hit of the year. It’s expected to gross around $155.6 million after its first 10 days.
Despicable Me 4 also took third place, taking in $14.5 million in its fourth opening. The animated Illumination is expected to overtake Dune: Part Two ($282 million) this weekend to become the second-highest domestic grosser of the year.
The film will follow Disney’s “Inside Out 2,” which is still pulling in big in its seventh weekend. The Pixar sequel will take fourth place after making $2.5 million on Friday.
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