‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ is the highest-grossing R-rated movie of all time

The trio of Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman and Shawn Levy captured attention with “Deadpool & Wolverine.”

From Thursday, the Disney and the Marvel film is the highest-grossing R-rated title of all time, surpassing from Warner Bros. “Joker.”

With $516.8 million in domestic ticket sales and $568.8 million from international audiences, “Deadpool & Wolverine” has surpassed $1.085 billion globally. Note that a “Joker” sequel is coming to theaters this October.

This feat not only demonstrates the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s resilience at the box office after a string of recent flops, but also suggests that Marvel Studios can explore darker content in the future without alienating viewers.

“The success of their first R-rated film opens up a lot of opportunities for Disney and Marvel,” said Shawn Robbins, founder and owner of Box Office Theory. “It’s important to remember that the rating was organic and necessary for the characters. That helped audiences and fans respond so favorably. They knew from the beginning that this wasn’t going to be a watered-down translation of a formula that has already proven itself.”

The previous Deadpool films were produced through 20th Century Fox and also had an R rating. When the Merc with a Mouth transitioned to Disney ownership in 2019, it was unclear whether the company would embrace its fourth-wall-breaking crudeness or leave it on the shelf while it produced other Marvel projects.

So when Marvel boss Kevin Feige revealed in 2021 that a third Deadpool movie would retain its R rating, the MCU fan community breathed a collective sigh of relief. Plus, Marvel gave Reynolds and Levy leeway to poke fun at corporate executives, the franchise as a whole, and even use the iconic “Frozen” line, “Do you want to build a snowman?” to reference drugs.

“Disney will probably be very selective in deciding which future films to release with a more mature rating, because they still have to consider their huge family audience, as does Marvel, but this at least provides a model for how and when it is appropriate to do so,” Robbins said.

“Deadpool & Wolverine” hit theaters in late July, riding a string of hits and misses for one of Disney’s most bulletproof franchises. The studio’s last release was “The Marvels,” which opened in November and had the lowest opening and lowest overall box office for an MCU film ever.

There’s now renewed confidence in the MCU, especially as Marvel has used San Diego Comic-Con and Disney’s biennial D23 Expo to hype its upcoming feature film slate and share exclusive footage.

Going forward, the studio looks to limit the number of series it produces for its streaming platform, Disney+, and keep its focus on the big screen. Previously, Marvel had produced nearly a dozen shows for the streaming platform, flooding the market and alienating some fans.

Marvel has six titles coming out in the next three years and three television series scheduled for release in 2025: “Agatha All Along,” “Ironheart,” and “Daredevil: Born Again.”

Both Comic Con and D23 audiences applauded Marvel’s slate announcements, a sign that interest in the superhero genre hasn’t waned. That’s good news for the MCU, which has generated more than $30 billion at the box office since “Iron Man” came out in 2008.