Marvel's only movie of 2024 has only been out for less than 24 hours and has already clawed and slashed through a major box office record. A new report from Deadline revealed that Deadpool & Wolverine has hauled in $38 million in Thursday night previews, which is almost double the record of the previous record-holder, and the biggest preview opening for an R-rated film ever. Ryan Reynolds' second solo outing as the Merc with a Mouth held the record for more than five years with $18.6 million, and now the follow-up to Deadpool 2 makes that look like chump change. Audiences worldwide are lining up to see Deadpool fight alongside Hugh Jackman's Wolverine, who is back for one more ride as the claw mutant after announcing his retirement after Logan in 2017.
This is likely only the first of many box office records that Deadpool & Wolverine will shatter before the weekend, and its theatrical run as a whole is over. A recent report indicated that Deadpool & Wolverine was tracking to gross nearly $200 million domestically during its opening weekend, and $350 million worldwide, which would be another record-setting number. In addition to audiences lining up to see Reynolds and Jackman, Deadpool & Wolverine also has the power of multiversal cameos behind it, with previous trailers and sneak peeks confirming only a few cameos in the film. The third Deadpool movie is everything that Marvel fans were expecting Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness to be, with characters from all timelines and corners of the universe appearing to help Wade and Logan on their journey.
Reynolds, Jackman, and director Shawn Levy have been all around the world promoting Deadpool & Wolverine the last few weeks, but one of the press tour's highlights came just a few days ago. Recently, Reynolds revealed that there were early talks of filming a completely fake movie called Alpha Cop, which would be a front for the real movie, Deadpool & Wolverine. Reynolds says the plan was for 10 people to go see the fake movie on opening weekend, only for the Marvel title card to flip shortly into the movie and reveal the truth. Although this plan didn't end up happening, it will never get old listening to Reynolds and Jackman talk about all the hilarious hijinx that went into making this movie.
Deadpool & Wolverine is now playing in theaters everywhere. Stay tuned to Collider for more box office information and find tickets below to see Deadpool & Wolverine.
Wolverine joins the "merc with a mouth" in the third installment of the Deadpool film franchise.