Marvel’s Deadpool & Wolverine broke a huge R-rated film record held by John Wick

“Deadpool & Wolverine” continues to break records. The mundane Marvel team-up had already become the highest-grossing R-rated film of all time at the box office earlier this year, and now it has broken the first-week sales record for an R-rated film in American markets in digital markets ( according to an official press release). All this means: Many, many people are buying and renting the film digitally on sites like Apple TV and Prime Video, with the home media release still pending.

The superhero film directed by Shawn Levy came to digital platforms on October 1, 2024 and apparently sold better than the previous record holder “John Wick: Chapter 4”. Meanwhile, it continues to stay in the top 10 at the box office, even though it has already been in theaters for almost three months at this point. In August, the film passed the $1 billion mark in theaters and subsequently overtook 2019’s “Joker” to become the record holder for the title of highest-grossing R-rated film of all time. It also edged out recent favorites “Oppenheimer” and the first two “Deadpool” films. However, when it comes to the film’s PVOD recording, it only includes US-based digital platforms, so worldwide digital sales will undoubtedly bring in even more money.

While Marvel fans have understandably complained about the lack of a Disney+ release date for the film, it’s no surprise that the studio would exploit this cash cow with a vengeance. The film hit a relative low point for the now-youthful Marvel Cinematic Universe (which Ryan Reynolds’ Wade Wilson comments on directly in the film), and in terms of money, it revitalized the increasingly successful franchise. Whether Deadpool & Wolverine is worth the hype or not is debatable (in his review, /Film’s Chris Evangelista called the film a “disappointing cameo-fest” while praising Hugh Jackman’s return as Wolverine), but the film certainly makes a mark new chapter for the Marvel machine.

Deadpool & Wolverine is currently the second highest-grossing film of the year behind Disney’s Inside Out 2, which also means it is now in the record books as the 13th highest-grossing film of all time, R-rated or unrated . In general, the fact that so many recent R-rated films have broken records shows that adult moviegoers are hungry for something comparable, be it a serious historical epic like “Oppenheimer” or a comic book-inspired flick like “Joker” or… “Deadpool and Wolverine.” The home success of the latest Wade Wilson adventure may also be due in part to the film’s almost countless cameos, references and inside jokes, which encourage multiple viewings and the ability to, in the case of particularly pop culture-rich films, one Taking a break rewards moments. Whatever the reason for its success, it doesn’t look like the “Deadpool” franchise is slowing down anytime soon.

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