Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman React to Massive Record-Breaking Opening Weekend Box Office for “Deadpool & Wolverine”
“This is kind of hard to process,” the ‘Deadpool‘ actor wrote on his Instagram Stories
Jay Maidmen
Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman in ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’
Ryan Reynolds is celebrating Deadpool & Wolverine‘s box office wins!
The film earned an estimated $205 million at the domestic box office over the weekend, according to Variety, Deadline and The Hollywood Reporter, making it the biggest R-rated opening of all time.
The record was previously set by Deadpool and Deadpool 2, at $132M and $125M, respectively.
Reynolds, 47, who also co-wrote and produced the movie, shared his reaction to the news on his Instagram Stories. “This is kind of hard to process,” he wrote. “But thank you to everyone who went to see the film this weekend… wow.”
His costar Hugh Jackman, who reprised his role of Wolverine for the first time since 2017’s Logan, also weighed in on the record-breaking numbers. The actor, 55, shared a photo on Instagram of his superhero character looking at an edited picture frame that reads, “#1 Movie in the world.”
“Deadpool and Wolverine is the #1 movie in the world. Thank you ALL,” he wrote in his caption.
Beyond the R-rated movie accomplishment, the movie is also the eighth-biggest domestic opening of all time, under 2012’s The Avengers and joining the ranks of other Marvel movies, like Avengers: Endgame and Spider-Man: No Way Home.
The movie opened internationally at $233M, giving its opening weekend a worldwide gross of $438M, THR reported.
Directed by Shawn Levy, the Marvel sequel stars Reynolds and Jackman, plus Emma Corrin, Rob Delaney, Matthew Macfadyen and a cavalcade of surprise A-list cameos.
Variety recently asked whether the filmmakers and stars felt pressure for Deadpool & Wolverine to be a hit following a string of superhero films underperforming at the box office.
Theo Wargo/Getty
Shawn Levy, Ryan Reynolds, Emma Corrin and Hugh Jackman on July 22, 2024
Related: How to Watch All the Deadpool and Wolverine Movies Before Seeing Marvel’s New Sequel
Levy, who previously made films like Free Guy and Night at the Museum, told the outlet, “I’m aware of that. We decided early, we’re going to shut out the noise.”
Added Jackman, “There’s always pressure, isn’t there? It doesn’t matter what movie you’re doing.”
He recalled the lead-up to debuting as Wolverine in 2000’s X-Men. “In 1999, everyone was like, ‘You are doing a comic movie?’ I had people say to me, ‘Make sure you booked another film before this thing comes out.’ A good movie, whatever the genre, will rise to the surface.”
Related: Inside Out 2 Blows Past Frozen 2 to Become the Biggest Animated Movie of All Time
Reynolds also told Variety that the landscape of movie-going has dramatically changed over the years.
“It’s changed a lot. But people are craving connection. Even last year, [Barbie and Oppenheimer] were huge event movies that people felt compelled to experience together,” he said.
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“You need to have a movie that has a heightened-spectacle element to draw people, more so than those mid-budget films that packed them in in the early aughts.”
Deadpool & Wolverine is in theaters now.
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