Hold onto your chimichangas, because Deadpool & Wolverine has been leaving cinemas in a frenzy. Starring Ryan Reynolds, this crossover of the century marks the third installment in the gloriously irreverent Deadpool series and the ninth time Hugh Jackman has suited up as the clawed legend, Wolverine. Since their last team-up in 2009’s X-Men Origins: Wolverine, fans have been crossing their claws, waiting for the return of Reynolds’ merc with a mouth alongside Jackman’s grumpy, growly mutant.
Marvel’s favorite antihero, Wade Wilson (Reynolds), is trying out the mundane life as a car salesman with his buddy Peter (Rob Delaney). Of course, with Wade, even a quiet day job can’t stay quiet for long. Cue birthday parties full of fourth-wall shenanigans and surprise visits from the TVA. Retirement is pretty much out of the picture at this moment. Packed with Marvel Easter eggs and cameos, Deadpool & Wolverine has been racking up stacks at the box office. Check out the details of how much this blockbuster costs and how it’s been holding up in theaters.
The Costs of Promoting ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’
According to Variety, in addition to its reported $200 million production budget, Deadpool & Wolverine spent another estimated $100 million for their promotional assets. Check out how some of these funds are distributed towards campaigns and brand activations.
Super Bowl LVIII Trailer
For blockbuster movies, it’s practically an unspoken rule to drop your trailer during the Super Bowl, even if it’s just 30 seconds. Deadpool & Wolverine did just that during Super Bowl LVIII. Considering that it’s the ultimate stage, with almost the entirety of America tuning in to the game, this ad spot is a pricey affair, coming in with a $7 million price tag for just a 30-second spot in 2024. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the trailer skyrocketed to become the most-watched trailer ever, racking up mind-blowing 365 million views in just 24 hours.
Stray Kids Collaboration
If there’s one way to promote a film, it’s by joining forces with one of the world’s hottest K-pop groups. With almost 10 million monthly listeners on Spotify, Stray Kids is an eight-member boy band formed by JYP Entertainment, a.k.a. One of the Big Three K-pop companies in South Korea. While Stray Kid’s net worth isn’t disclosed to the public, JYP Entertainment currently has a market cap of €1.23 Billion (approximately $1.3 billion). Throughout the years, Strays Kids has had their fair share of Hollywood interactions with the stars of Deadpool, particularly Reynolds himself. In 2021, Stray Kids leader Bang Chan interviewed Reynolds for his film Free Guy, in which the actor expressed his love for the K-pop group.
Before Deadpool & Wolverine’s theatrical release, Stray Kids released their music video for “Chk Chk Boom” on July 19, 2024. Audiences might notice two very familiar faces at the beginning of the video. Jackman, all dressed up in his Wolverine suit, delivers the weather forecast from a news station. Meanwhile, Reynold plays an anchorman, reporting on a “mysterious phenomena occurring worldwide”. This brief Deadpool & Wolverine x Stray Kids crossover eventually paid off. At the time of writing, the “Chk Chk Boom” music video has garnered almost 60 million views in less than two weeks. Outside of music, Band Chan and member Felix interviewed Reynolds and Jackman during their Marvel press run in South Korea.
Brand Activations
Together with Maximum Effort and a variety of branded partners, Deadpool & Wolverine made sure that the movie is quite literally everywhere, pulling out all the stops with retail goods, toy items, and even alcoholic beverages. As George Dewey of Maximum Effort explains, the agency isn’t “ashamed” of advertising, and whatever opportunity comes along their way, they’re willing to accept it just to get word of the movie out.
Deadpool & Wolverine’s long list of brand partnerships includes Reynold’s Aviation Gin, Heineken, Jack in the Box, Heinz, Hot Topic, Adidas, Funko, Xbox, and more to count. Following the golden rule of marketing, campaigns for each brand are tailor-made to make them relevant for their consumers. With their Heineken campaign, the storytelling revolved around their beer cans made out of the same metal from Wolverine’s claws. Meanwhile, their Heinz campaign used ketchup and mustard to compare Deadpool and Wolverine’s different colored costumes. Just recently, Hot Toys revealed the first look at a Lady Deadpool figure, which fans have speculated to be either Blake Lively or Taylor Swift.
How Much Did ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ Need to Make at the Box Office to Break Even?
To turn a profit, a movie typically needs to rake in about two to two-and-a-half times its production cost. With a reported production budget of $200 million, Deadpool & Wolverine would need to hit around $400 to $500 million just to break even. Given the franchise’s longevity, its association with the MCU, and the third installment’s unique storytelling approach, it’s safe to bet that Deadpool & Wolverine will be cashing in big time.
How Is ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ Doing at the Box Office?
Deadpool & Wolverine didn’t just claw their way to success – they slashed, ripped, and diced up the box office markets. Based on early ticket sales and projections, Deadpool & Wolverine was predicted to earn $350 million during its worldwide opening weekend. Despite the high expectations, the movie would come along to snatch records during its first weekend.
In less than 24 hours alone, the movie garnered $38 million in Thursday night previews. On opening day, Deadpool & Wolverinegrossed a whopping $96 million, making it the sixth-biggest opening day haul of all time. Add the $115 million the film garnered from overseas markets, Deadpool & Wolverine achieved a cumulative haul of $211 million in the global box office in just two days. In other words, it only took the Marvel film two days to recover its total reported budget. Deadpool & Wolverine’s $211 million debut has surpassed some of cinema’s biggest films, notably Jurassic World‘s $208.8 million opening haul.
By comparison, the first Deadpool movie garnered $132 million in its opening weekend and later went on to achieve $780 million during its worldwide theatrical run. Meanwhile, Deadpool 2 pulled in $125 million domestically in its opening weekend and finished strong with $785 million by the end of its theatrical run. At the moment, Deadpool & Wolverine have gone past the $400 million benchmark with a $438.3 million global opening and has already clawed its way past the $1 billion milestone.
How Does ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ Compare to Other July Releases?
July saw some heavy hitters in cinemas. Earlier in the month, the Illumination animation Despicable Me 4 made an explosive entrance with $52 million in just 48 hours at the domestic box office. Originally predicted to generate approximately $120 million, the movie would go on to garner a whopping total of $122 million by the end of its extended five-day debut. On top of being a beloved franchise, Despicable Me 4 coincidentally fell within the Fourth of July festivities, allowing an all-time surge in box office sales. These boisterous minions also won the hearts of many all across the globe, pulling in a nice $9.4 million from the international box office in just four markets.
At the moment, Despicable Me 4 has achieved another global box office milestone with $330 million domestically and $477 from international markets, grossing a total of $807 million worldwide. As a comparison, Deadpool & Wolverine made approximately one-third of Despicable Me 4’s current cumulative global box office – in just their opening weekend.
Meanwhile, Twisters took cinemas by storm by wrangling in a staggering $80 million in its opening weekend – a nice $30 million more than their original $50 million projection. As the film reached cinemas worldwide, the beloved sequel generated approximately an estimated $27.1 million from 23,535 screens across 76 overseas markets. The film currently stands at $310 million and counting at the worldwide box office.
Just like Deadpool & Wolverine, IMAX screenings were partly responsible for the success of Twisters, pulling in IMAX’s global total for Twisters to over $12 million. In addition to IMAX, 4DX theaters, famous for motion seats and wind-strobes, garnered another $2.1 million in global sales. In just two weeks since its opening weekend, Twisters has already surpassed the $100 million mark in its first week and went high above the ground with $46.4 million in its second weekend. While the movie isn’t as huge of a hit in overseas markets, Twister’s America-heavy setting, and the legacy it carries from the original 1996 film, cements its longevity in theaters.
Other unreleased projects to look out for this August are Alien: Romulus, the seventh installment in the Alien franchise, and Borderlands, finally free from nine-long years of development hell. According to Boxoffice Pro, Alien: Romulus is predicted to earn between $35 million – $50 million during its opening weekend, while Borderlands is projected to garner $10 million – $20 million on opening weekend.
What Opening Weekend Records Did ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ Break?
With all these staggering numbers within a short amount of time, Deadpool & Wolverine has gone off to break some serious opening weekend records. Coming in strong with the biggest opening for a July movie, the film is officially one of the top 10 highest-grossing R-rated movies of all time, overtaking hits likes the first two Hangover movies, Joker, and arguably one of Hollywood’s most recent heavyweights, Oppenheimer.
With the sixth-biggest opening weekend of all time, Deadpool & Wolverineposes to be one of MCU’s strongest films in the franchise. The movie has outperformed the opening weekends of other blockbuster Marvel hits, including Black Panther ($202 million), Avengers: Age of Ultron ($191 million), and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness ($187 million).
