'Deadpool & Wolverine' Gives Disney (Near) Total MPA Box Office Domination

The Ryan Reynolds/Hugh Jackman MCU threequel has passed the global cume of 'Joker' to become the top-grossing R-rated movie ever in worldwide grosses.

Disney made it official this morning, with Deadpool & Wolverine raising its global total to $1.086 billion. That’s past the unadjusted $10.73 million cume for Joker, meaning that the Ryan Reynolds/Hugh Jackman action comedy is now the top-earning R-rated picture ever both in North America (well past the unadjusted $371 million total of The Passion of the Christ) and now past WB’s late-2019 supervillain origin story/melodrama. The Marvel threequel, although it’s barely an MCU movie as 99% of the story concerns characters popularized (at least onscreen) by 20th Century Fox, has now earned $517 million domestically and $569 million overseas.

In terms of inflation-adjusted R-rated domestic earners, it’s about to pass Terminator 2: Judgment Day ($204 million in 1991/$518 million). After that, it’s behind M.A.S.H. ($82 million in 1970/$577 million), The Passion of the Christ ($371 million in 2004/$644 million), National Lampoon’s Animal House ($141 million in 1978/$652 million), Blazing Saddles ($119 million in 1974/$680 million), Beverly Hills Cop (which held the record until Matrix 2 with $234 million in 1964/$731 million), The Godfather ($134 million in 1971/$850 million) and The Exorcist ($1.19 billion counting various reissues). We’ll see how high it climbs on that list over the next month.