Three-week tracking finds Deadpool & Wolverine slicing up $165M at the summer box office for a record R-rated debut

The Marvel movie drought ends this month with the release of Deadpool & Wolverine, a superhero film with more hype than “Macho Man” Randy Savage hocking Slim Jims in 1993. The film that unites Ryan Reynolds (Deadpool) and Hugh Jackman (Wolverine) will make a butt-load of cash, but how much can executives and theater owners expect? NRG, Screen Engine, and other three-week-in-advance box office tracking services predict a $160M-$165M take, which would be the best year-to-date opening and a record for an R-rated movie at the box office. The first Deadpool movie, released in 2016, holds the record for a best R-rated debut with $132.4M.

NRG and Screen Engine are not the only analysts in town. Quorum says Deadpool & Wolverine could pull as much as $200M in its first three weeks of release. No matter how you slice it, the threequel is on track to boost the summer box office higher than Gina Linetti helping Captain Holt into the front car of a semi. That’s a little something for you Brooklyn Nine-Nine fans out there. I see you.

Initially, analysts thought the box office doldrums would not end until Deadpool & Wolverine slashed its way into cinemas. Still, Pixar’s Inside Out 2 is the overachieving hit of the season, with over $1 billion in ticket sales worldwide! As I predicted back when I visited the legendary animation studio in March, the emotionally charged sequel is connecting with audiences in a big way, with some families saying they’ve seen the Pixar sequel four times in theaters and plan to go again.

While Deadpool & Wolverine isn’t necessarily family-friendly, parents tend to loosen restrictions on younger offspring for Wade Wilson’s wacky adventures through the Marvel Universe. What’s more, Deadpool & Wolverine could rewrite the Marvel Cinematic Universe as a part of the plot involves Wade and Logan visiting different timelines. A portion of the public wants a fresh start to following Marvel’s output, and who better to shuffle the cards than Deadpool and Wolverine?

Deadpool & Wolverine stars Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman as Wade Wilson and James Howlett, respectively. In addition to featuring the superhero team-up of the century, the threequel finds Wade and Logan sticking their dirty fingers into the Marvel Cinematic timeline, creating chaos while foiling a nefarious plot devised by Charles Xavier’s sister, Cassandra Nova (Emma Corrin). The MCU desperately needs a shake-up, and it sounds like Cassandra Nova and multiversal shenanigans could usher significant changes into the interconnected universe.

Deadpool & Wolverine also stars Morena Baccarin as Vanessa, Leslie Uggams as Blind Al, Karan Soni as Dopinder, Brianna Hildebrand as Negasonic Teenage Warhead, Shioli Kutsuna as Yukio, Stefan Kapičić as the voice of Colossus, and Rob Delaney as Peter. Deadpool 3 will also star Emma Corrin as the villain and Matthew Macfadyen as a TVA agent. The film is also expected to feature cameos from characters throughout the history of 20th Century Fox’s Marvel movies, with a few already being revealed in the trailer, including Aaron Stanford as Pyro.

Will you see Deadpool & Wolverine in the first three weeks of its release? Let us know in the comments section below.