Deadpool & Wolverine Is Going To Defeat R-Rated Jesus

If you don’t think this is such a big deal, there are only seven R-rated movies that have ever grossed over $300 million at the domestic box office, and Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ is currently the highest-earning R-rated movie, as it grossed $370 million when it released two decades ago.

Deadpool & Wolverine had a great start, earning $96 million domestically on its opening day and $280.5 million in the United States and Canada as of July 31. It’s likely to make more money next week, so it’s not outside the realm of possibility that it will break the record set by Mel Gibson’s film.

Deadpool & Wolverine has already become the fourth biggest release of 2024, earning a worldwide total of $590 million as of July 31, outearning DreamWorks Animation/Universal’s Kung Fu Panda 4 and Legendary/Warner Bros’ Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire, which made $546 and $568 (million), respectively.

Those aren’t negligible numbers; Deadpool & Wolverine now competes against Despicable Me 4 for third on the list of highest-earning 2024 movies and against Inside Out 2, which is currently leading the race with $1.51 billion in box office earnings.

To be entirely honest, this level of success isn’t all that surprising. The original Deadpool earned $363 at the domestic box office and a total of $782 million, while its sequel made $325 million domestically and $785 million. If Deadpool & Wolverine manages to earn more than $1.1 billion, it will become the highest-grossing R-rated movie worldwide, a title that currently belongs to Todd Phillips’ Joker, starring Joaquin Phoenix.

We all knew this was going to happen; Disney would never let Marvel make an R-rated movie unless they were absolutely confident that it wouldn’t blow up in their faces, and the Deadpool & Wolverine movie hasn’t, considering that it recuperated its production budget in just two days.

So, while it’s possible for Deadpool & Wolverine to beat The Passion of the Christ, the bigger question is: can Disney beat itself? With Deadpool & Wolverine overtaking Godzilla × Kong, Disney now has two contenders for the highest-grossing movie of 2024, one of which is still screening.

In other words, unless dethroned by another non-Disney release, Inside Out 2 isn’t really threatened by any other release except Deadpool & Wolverine—also made by Disney. Those who haven’t had the chance to watch Deadpool & Wolverine, you’re in for a surprise because the movie delivers everything the promotional material promised and more. It’s incredibly entertaining, and it parodies basically everything in the MCU before it. It’s everything you’d expect from the third Deadpool movie.