“Deadpool & Wolverine” proves its continued success with a massive first week streaming on Disney+.
The latest MCU addition pulled in 19.4 million views globally in the first six days of availability. That makes it the most-watched live action film on Disney+ and Hulu since “Black Panter: Wakanda Forever” dropped last year.
“Deadpool & Wolverine” has been smashing records since its July release. It’s one of only two films to cross the billion-dollar mark in 2024 and on that journey it also beat out “Joker” to become the highest-grossing R-rated movie of all time. The Marvel threequel starring Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman grossed over $1.3 billion through its theatrical run.
In a post to Marvel Studios’ X account, studio head Kevin Feige thanked fans with a proper thank you note after breaking the grossing record, writing, “It’s fantastic to see that audiences are loving this movie as much as we all loved making it. All those conversations were worth it!”
The film was also seen as a return to form in a way for the MCU, which had been struggling with lukewarm receptions for much of the entries in Phase 5 of the connected universe’s continuity.
TheWrap critic William Bibbiani wasn’t among those who thought the R-rated flick was a trend in the right direction for Marvel.
“‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ isn’t so much a movie as it is a corporate merger with stabbings and wiener jokes,” he wrote. “A shameless piece of self-congratulation, fueled by self-cannibalism, as the studio which built its identity on superhero crossovers finally abandons the pretense of trying to justify them dramatically.”
Bibbiani continued, “Shawn Levy’s film is a tragic confession that the MCU isn’t leaning on its multiverse to drive stories, it’s leaning on its multiverse to exploit intellectual property with as little creative effort as possible. Whatever superficial entertainment this film offers comes at the cost of revealing that the emperor, and in this case the whole empire, has no clothes — and that’s not an impressive sight.”
