With a US$97M second weekend, 'Deadpool & Wolverine' sets a new high mark for R-rated films

This image released by 20th Century Studios/Marvel Studios shows Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool/Wade Wilson, left, and Hugh Jackman as Wolverine/Logan in a scene from 'Deadpool & Wolverine.' (20th Century Studios)

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

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

Worldwide, the Shawn Levy-directed “Deadpool & Wolverine" has quickly amassed $824.1 million in ticket sales, a total that already surpasses the global hauls of the first two “Deadpool” films. The 2016 original grossed $782.6 million worldwide; the 2018 sequel collected $734.5 million.

This image released by 20th Century Studios/Marvel Studios shows Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool/Wade Wilson and Hugh Jackman as Wolverine/Logan in a scene from "Deadpool & Wolverine." (20th Century Studios/Marvel Studios via AP)

The weekend’s primary challengers both struggled.

M. Night Shyamalan’s latest thriller, “Trap,” managed a modest opening of $15.6 million at 3,181 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 per cent fresh on Rotten Tomatoes) than Shyamalan’s films typically do. Audiences gave it a C+ CinemaScore.

With a budget of about $35 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.”

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The live-action “Harold and the Purple Crayon,” adapted from the classic kids book, also didn’t make much of a mark in theatres. Th,e Sony Pictures release debuted with $6 million. It, too, got dinged by critics (28 per cent fresh on Rotten Tomatoes), though audiences (an A- CinemaScore) liked it more. “Harold and the Purple Crayon," which stars Zachary Levi, cost about $40 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 $22.7 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 $195.6 million domestically. While it has made less of an impression overseas, “Twisters” is holding particularly well in North American theatres, down just 35 per cent from the week prior.

Hollywood closed July with its best month in a year and its first $1 billion month since July 2023. While comparisons to last year aren't favorable — 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 $32.8 million loss for the second quarter of 2024.

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