‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ Smashes R-rated Record with $205 Million Debut

Marvel is back on top with “Deadpool & Wolverine.” The comic-book movie made a staggering $205 million in its first weekend in North American theaters, according to studio estimates Sunday. It shattered the opening record for R-rated films previously held by the first “Deadpool” ($132 million) and notched a spot in the top 10 openings of all time.
Including international showings, where it’s racked up an addition $233.3 million from 52 markets, “Deadpool & Wolverine” is looking at a global opening of over $438.3 million, The Associated Press reported.
Fittingly for both characters’ introduction to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, “Deadpool & Wolverine” played less like earlier X-Men or Deadpool movies and more like an Avengers pic. In the top domestic opening weekends ever, “Deadpool & Wolverine” is seated in 8th place between “The Avengers” ($207.4 million) and “Black Panther" ($202 million), bumping “Avengers: Age of Ultron” ($191.3 million) out of the top 10.
It’s by far biggest opening of the year, unseating Disney’s “ Inside Out 2 ” ($154.2 million) and the most tickets a movie has sold in its debut weekend since “Barbie” ($162 million) stormed theaters last July. Playing in 4,210 locations, “Deadpool & Wolverine” also surpassed 2019’s “The Lion King” ($191.8 million) to become the biggest July opening ever, and is the 34th consecutive MCU movie to debut in first place. And these are numbers previously thought impossible for an R-rated film.
The Walt Disney Studios release arrived at a pivotal time for an industry grappling with box office returns that continue to run at a double-digit deficit from last year. The success is also an important moment for Marvel Studios, which has had several high-profile disappointments lately; Most notably in “ The Marvels ” which opened to an MCU low of $47 million last November.
Superheroes have been struggling even more elsewhere: Sony, which reached a high point with “Spider-Man: No Way Home” ($1.9 billion worldwide) had a new low with “Madame Web,” which barely crossed $100 million. Warner Bros. Discovery, after a string of disappointments with “The Flash” and “Blue Beetle,” is currently working on restarting their DC universe under the supervision of James Gunn.
Marvel's savior came in the form of two characters who got their start outside of the MCU, and carried a Motion Picture Association rating that seemed to have an earnings cap.
Both Deadpool and Wolverine, played by Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman, existed previously under the 21st Century Fox banner which for two decades had the rights to Marvel characters like the “X-Men” and “Fantastic Four.” That changed when Disney acquired the studio’s film and TV assets in early 2019 and plans started to take shape of how all these characters would fit into Kevin Feige’s MCU. In some cases, as with “Fantastic Four,” Marvel Studios is starting fresh. With “Deadpool & Wolverine,” the stars were as crucial as their characters.
Going into the weekend, $200 million domestic seemed like a pipe dream. Analysts were more conservative with predictions in the $160 million range. But from the start of the 3 p.m. Thursday preview screenings it was clear that “Deadpool & Wolverine” was more powerful. By the end of Friday, it had already made $96 million and received a coveted A CinemaScore from audiences. Critics, too, have been mostly positive. Premium screens, including IMAX and other large formats, accounted for 18% of the total box office.
The top domestic opening of all time still firmly belongs to “Avengers: Endgame” with $357.1 million. It’s followed by “Spider-Man: No Way Home” ($260.1 million), “Avengers: Infinity War” ($257.6 million), “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” ($247.9 million) and “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” ($220 million).
Second place went to Universal's “Twisters,” now in its second weekend with $35.3 million. The standalone sequel to “Twister” has now earned $154.9 million in North America. Universal also claimed third place with “Despicable Me 4,” which added $14.2 million in its fourth weekend, bringing its domestic total to nearly $291 million.
“Inside Out 2” landed in fourth place with $8.3 million. The Disney and Pixar release this week became the biggest animated release ever with $613.4 million domestically (surpassing “Incredibles 2”) and $1.5 billion globally. It also passed “Top Gun: Maverick” to become the 12th highest-earning global release of all time.
It all adds up to one of the top 10 domestic grossing weekends of all time, with around $280 million, according to Comscore. That puts it ahead of this weekend last year, when “Barbie” and “Oppenheimer” helped propel the box office to over $216.9 million in their second weekends.

John Mayall, the British blues pioneer whose 1960s music collective the Bluesbreakers helped usher in a fertile period of rock and brought guitarists like Eric Clapton to prominence, has died at 90, his family said Tuesday.

Mayall, a singer and multi-instrumentalist who was dubbed "the godfather of British blues," and whose open-door arrangement saw some of the greats in the genre hone their craft with him and his band, "passed away peacefully in his California home" on Monday, according to a statement posted on his Facebook page.

It did not state a cause of death.

"Health issues that forced John to end his epic touring career have finally led to peace for one of this world's greatest road warriors," it said. "John Mayall gave us 90 years of tireless efforts to educate, inspire and entertain."

Mayall's influence on 1960s rock and beyond is enormous. Members of the Bluesbreakers eventually went on to join or form groups including Cream, Fleetwood Mac, the Rolling Stones and many more.

At age 30, Mayall moved to London from northern England in 1963. Sensing revolution in the air, he gave up his profession as a graphic designer to embrace a career in blues, the musical style born in Black America.

He teamed up with a series of young guitarists including Clapton, Peter Green, later of Fleetwood Mac, and Mick Taylor who helped form the Rolling Stones.

In the Bluesbreakers' debut album in 1966, "Blues Breakers With Eric Clapton," John Mayall enthralled music aficionados with a melding of soulful rock and gutsy, guitar-driven American blues featuring covers of tunes by Robert Johnson, Otis Rush and Ray Charles.

The blues music he was playing in British venues was "a novelty for white England," he told AFP in 1997.

That album was a hit, catapulting Clapton to stardom and bringing a wave of popularity to a more raw and personal blues music.

Mayall moved to California in 1968 and toured America extensively in 1972.

He recorded a number of landmark albums in the 1960s including "Crusade," "A Hard Road," and "Blues From Laurel Canyon." Dozens more followed in the 1970s and up to his latest, "The Sun Is Shining Down," in 2022.

Mayall was awarded an OBE, an Officer of the Order of the British Empire, in 2005.

‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ Smashes R-rated Record with $205 Million Debut