movies

“Deadpool & Wolverine” soared higher than expected in its first weekend of release. The comic book tentpole, starring Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman, collected $211 million in its domestic box office debut, ranking as the sixth-biggest opening of all time.

Ticket sales were above Sunday’s record-breaking estimate of $205 million, which already stood as the biggest opening weekend of the year and the largest ever for an R-rated film. With Monday’s final tally, “Deadpool & Wolverine” has grossed $444.3 million globally after three days of release.

Only “Avengers: Endgame” ($357 million), “Spider-Man: No Way Home” ($260 million), “Avengers: Infinity War” ($257 million), “Star Wars: The Force Awakens” ($247 million) and “Star Wars: The Last Jedi” ($220 million) have enjoyed bigger starts at the domestic box office. All of those tentpoles crossed the $1 billion mark with ease — a milestone that’s all but assured at this point for “Deadpool & Wolverine.” If the superhero epic joins the billion-dollar club, it’ll be only the second R-rated film in history — after 2019’s “Joker” ($1.07 billion globally) — to achieve that victory.

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Over the weekend, Disney’s Marvel Cinematic Universe became the first film franchise ever to cross $30 billion at the global box office. Although not all of the franchise’s 34 installments were box office winners (the less said about recent entries like “Eternals,” “The Marvels” and “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania,” the better), the MCU remains in rarified air in terms of commercial appeal.