Marvel's Deadpool & Wolverine Broke A Huge R-Rated Movie Record Held By John Wick

"Deadpool & Wolverine" just keeps breaking records. The profane Marvel team-up had already become the all-time highest-grossing R-rated film at the box office earlier this year, and now it's broken the first-week sales record for an R-rated movie in American markets on digital (per an official press release). All of this is to say: lots and lots of people are buying and renting the movie digitally on sites like Apple TV and Prime Video, with its home media release still to come.

The Shawn Levy-directed superhero flick hit digital platforms on October 1, 2024, and apparently outsold previous record holder "John Wick: Chapter 4." At the box office, meanwhile, it continues to hold strong in the top 10 despite having been in theaters for nearly three months at this point. In August, the film crossed the $1 billion dollar mark theatrically, and subsequently passed 2019's "Joker" to become the record holder for the title of highest-grossing R-rated movie ever made. It also crowded out recent favorite "Oppenheimer" and the first two "Deadpool" films. When it comes to the film's PVOD record, however, that only includes digital platforms from the U.S., so worldwide digital sales will no doubt add even more to the money pile.

While Marvel fans have understandably groused about the lack of a Disney+ release date for the film, it's not surprising that the studio would milk this cash cow for all it's worth. The movie arrived at a relative low point for the now-teenaged Marvel Cinematic Universe (something Ryan Reynolds' Wade Wilson comments on directly in the film), and on the money front, it brought the increasingly hit-or-miss franchise back to life. Whether or not "Deadpool & Wolverine" is worth the hype is debatable (in his review, /Film's Chris Evangelista called the film a "disappointing cameo fest" while also praising Hugh Jackman's return as Wolverine), but the movie inarguably marks a new chapter for the Marvel machine.

"Deadpool & Wolverine" is currently the second highest-grossing of the year after Disney's "Inside Out 2," which also means it's now down in the record books as the 13th highest-grossing domestic release of all time, R-rated or otherwise. In general, the fact that so many recent R-rated films have broke records indicates that grown-up moviegoers are hungry for fare to match, whether it's a serious historical epic like "Oppenheimer" or a comic book inspired flick like "Joker" or "Deadpool & Wolverine." The at-home success of the latest Wade Wilson adventure could also be due in part to the movie's nearly-countless number of cameos, references, and in-jokes, which reward multiple watches and the ability to push pause during especially pop culture-packed moments. Whatever the reason for its success, the "Deadpool" franchise doesn't look to be slowing down anytime soon.

"Deadpool" is now playing in theaters and available on PVOD platforms. You can buy it on DVD, Blu-ray, and 4k UHD beginning October 22, 2024.