Deadpool & Wolverine Becomes The Highest-Grossing R-Rated Movie Ever

"Deadpool & Wolverine" has just broken a major box office record: It's now officially the highest-grossing R-rated movie of all time. 

The film has surpassed Todd Phillips' bleak 2019 supervillain film "Joker" to grab the top spot on the list of the highest-grossing R-rated movies in history. Per Forbes, Marvel Studios' latest topped $1.2 billion last weekend "and expects to pass ['Joker" at the box office] Thursday." For reference, "Joker" earned a worldwide haul of $1.079 billion. Deadpool himself, Ryan Reynolds, wasted no time posting the news to Twitter (or X, as dorks call it). 

Now imagine if Hugh had done full frontal. With the cowl on of course. #DeadpoolAndWolverine ❤️💛 pic.twitter.com/ai6tSfVGTM

— Ryan Reynolds (@VancityReynolds) August 16, 2024

Notably, both other "Deadpool" movies are high on that list — the first pulled in $781 million globally, while "Deadpool 2" earned $786 million – rounding out the top five along with "Joker" and last year's historical epic "Oppenheimer" ($976 million worldwide). Just days ago, "Deadpool & Wolverine" also became the second-ever R-rated movie to cross the one billion dollar mark at the global box office, also joining "Joker" as the only movies that can claim that feat.

The most obvious takeaways here for executives will likely be that "Deadpool" movies make bank and superhero films aren't dead yet. Both points are objectively true (though Marvel still seems to have more misses than hits on its hands lately), but it's also important that studios see this, like "Oppenheimer," as a sign that moviegoers enjoy films for grown-ups; the market doesn't need to be saturated completely with children's entertainment and edgeless PG-13 superhero movies. There's nothing wrong with a family-friendly film, but the rise of the Marvel Cinematic Universe in the 2010s made it the new default for studios aiming to make a buck. Now, with this top five list composed entirely of movies released in the past decade, it's clear that Hollywood can still get butts in seats with more adult fare.

It perhaps helps that "Deadpool & Wolverine" is a movie stuffed with massive cameos and plenty of attention-grabbing moments, leading to a steady stream of viewers who felt compelled to check it out in theaters before every second of its best surprises ended up plastered across social media. The movie has a less-than-stellar 78% critical score on aggregate site Rotten Tomatoes as of publication time, but fans clearly love it more: 95% of those posting to RT gave it a positive review. Positive word of mouth likely contributed to the movie's success, as did a seemingly endless marketing campaign and press tour. Plus, it can't be overstated how interested fans were in seeing Hugh Jackman suit up as Wolverine one last time after previously retiring the character in 2017's "Logan."

If you want to see what the billion-dollar hype is about, "Deadpool & Wolverine" is still in theaters.