‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ sets a new high mark for R-rated films with $97M second weekend

In its second weekend, the Marvel Studios blockbuster, ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’, starring Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman, continued to steamroll through movie theaters, collecting $97 million according to studio estimate

After 10 days in theaters, Deadpool & Wolverine is already the highest-grossing R-rated movie ever, not accounting for inflation.

In its second weekend, the Marvel Studios blockbuster starring Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman continued to steamroll through movie theaters, collecting $97 million according to studio estimates Sunday. That raised its two-week total to $395.6 million, pushing it past the long-reigning top R-rated feature, The Passion of the Christ, which held that mark for 20 years with $370 million domestic.

Worldwide, the Shawn Levy-directed Deadpool & Wolverine has quickly amassed $824.1 million in ticket sales, a total that already surpasses the global hauls of the first two Deadpool films. The 2016 original grossed $782.6 million worldwide; the 2018 sequel collected $734.5 million.

The weekend’s primary challengers both struggled.

M. Night Shyamalan’s latest thriller, Trap, managed a modest opening of $15.6 million at 3,181 theaters for Warner Bros. The film, starring Josh Hartnett as a serial killer hunted by police at a pop concert, didn’t screen for critics before opening day and scored lower in reviews (48% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes) than Shyamalan’s films typically do. Audiences gave it a C+ CinemaScore.

With a budget of about $35 million that Shyamalan largely finances himself, Trap didn’t need a huge opening. But it may struggle to break even.

“This is a soft opening for an M. Night Shyamalan suspense crime thriller,” wrote David A. Gross, a film consultant who publishes a newsletter for Franchise Entertainment. “The writer/director’s movies out-earn other original thrillers by a wide margin, and that’s true here, but this start is not on the level of recent Shyamalan films.”