Box Office - 'Deadpool & Wolverine' Nabs $438 Million Worldwide -- Franchise Comedies Are 'So Hot' Right Now!

Audiences are happy to show up to theaters for a feature-length chuckle fest, but only if its associated with another genre or a fantastical franchise.

Yes, I’ll probably find time to mourn Kevin Feige’s Marvel Cinematic Universe going all-in on 2010s-era nostalgia at the first sign of trouble. However, that can wait, as I want to take the time to write it without just coming off as stereotypically cranky. But I’m old enough to remember when Warner Bros. panicked amid Man of Steel’s run and threw Batman into what was supposed to be Man of Steel 2 partially to “win” the 2013 SDCC. Most of us then agreed that it was a desperate play that would do little to their hopes for a DC Comics-focused “cinematic universe.” Anyway, Deadpool & Wolverine just nabbed a record-shattering $205 million domestic and $438 million worldwide) launch, the biggest ever (by far) for an R-rated movie and the eighth-biggest domestic launch ever (sans inflation).

There’s a case to be made that COVID and streaming-related challenges to theaters have created a status quo where the cinemas are stuck at the bottom level of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs, in that survival by any means (even Disney’s full-throated embrace of 2010s-era nostalgia) is enough of a win for now. That’s a more complicated conversation — including “IP for IP’s sake” breakouts like Twisters and Space Jam: A New Legacy - for another day. For the moment, we should note that Deadpool 3, which teams Ryan Reynolds’ Wade Wilson with Hugh Jackman’s Logan, is just the latest blockbuster comedy to pull blockbuster grosses. But wait, aren’t theatrical comedies essentially a dead business? Well, yes, unless they are encased in a more PLF-worthy genre and/or fantastical franchise film.