Deadpool & Wolverine Blast Off With Astonishing $200 Million Opening Weekend

Not too long ago, Deadpool was considered such a box office risk that, mere days before his first solo movie was given a green light, the filmmakers had their budget slashed by $7-8 million. This forced a last-minute scramble to cut expensive stuff from the script. (Among other changes, screenwriters Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick wrote in a gag where Deadpool tools up with a huge arsenal of weapons for the final fight, only to accidentally leave them in the back of a taxi.)

How the tables have turned! Marvel Studios has recently had a run of sequels with diminishing returns and outright box office flops like "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania" and "The Marvels." But the Marvel Cinematic Universe debut of Ryan Reynolds' Deadpool and Hugh Jackman's Wolverine in the straightforwardly-titled "Deadpool & Wolverine" has put Marvel back on top. A massive $96 million Friday total (including $38.5 million from Thursday previews) puts the team-up movie on track for an opening weekend in the range of $195 million to $205 million.

With the help of his new SSO (significant superhero other), Deadpool has smashed a box office record previously set by ... himself. 2016's "Deadpool" scored the biggest domestic opening ever for an R-rated movie with a $132.4 million debut, and held the record up until now. "Deadpool & Wolverine" has also left the $154.2 million opening weekend for "Inside Out 2" in its dust as it secures the biggest opening weekend of 2024, and it's unlikely that any of this year's remaining releases will manage to unseat it.

A few select movies have escaped Marvel's downwards slide at the box office, and they have something in common: being absolutely packed to the rafters with cameos. The return of Tobey Maguire and Andrew Garfield as their previous iterations of Spider-Man was one of the worst-kept secrets in "Spider-Man: No Way Home," and they helped propel it to $1.92 billion worldwide. "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness" similarly eclipsed its predecessor with a $955.8 million haul. It certainly wasn't hurt by special guest stars including Sir Patrick Stewart as Professor X, John Krasinski as Mr. Fantastic, Hayley Atwell as Captain Carter, and — of course — Bruce Campbell as Pizza Poppa.

Being a multiverse-focused movie, "Deadpool & Wolverine" is also absolutely stuffed with Marvel cameos. It brings back characters from the beloved first two "X-Men" movies, tugging on nostalgic heartstrings, while also introducing new variants like Lady Deadpool and the adorably hideous Dogpool. It might seem like packing in cameos and comebacks is an instant recipe for success — but that would be an ill lesson for Marvel Studios to take away from this. First of all, too many cameo-packed movies run the risk of making surprise guest stars feel less special. Secondly, it won't take long before the pool of characters that fans are truly excited to see again starts to run dry.

These box office results are undoubtedly a huge win for Deadpool. They're also a testament to the affection people have for the X-Men movie universe, as messy as it might have been. But whether they're a sign that the MCU as a franchise is back on top ... well, let's wait and see how "Captain America: Brave New World" and "Thunderbolts" fare next year.