There’s a new all-time box office champ as far as R-rated movies go. After two years with the crown, Deadpool and Wolverine’s status as the highest-grossing R-rated movie of all time now goes to Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey. The Odyssey, which is still only just over five weeks into its run, has grossed $1.352 billion worldwide, beating the superhero team-up’s all-time $1.338 billion total. Ryan Reynolds celebrated the movie’s achievement by posting his own Deadpool and Wolverine/The Odyssey mash-up on social media:
However, this comes with an important caveat. While internationally The Odyssey takes the crown as the top-grossing R-rated movie, domestically it’s still only a distant second to Deadpool and Wolverine. It’s made $516.3 million domestically compared to Deadpool and Wolverine’s $636 million total. Even if The Odyssey keeps playing to boffo box office, it seems unlikely to match Deadpool and Wolverine’s tally.
What’s crazy is that The Odyssey, which in any other summer would have been the runaway hit of the season, isn’t even close to being the season’s top film. Spider-Man: Brand New Day has grossed over $800 million domestically, with it possible that it could hit a billion dollars. That’s almost double what A Minecraft Movie, which was last year’s top-grossing movie, made. It’s been a great rebound considering many believed the box office was on a terminal downslide, but there have been some really huge hits this year, including Toy Story 5, Obsession, Backrooms, and Project Hail Mary, with more to come — including Dune: Part Three and Avengers: Doomsday. Will either of those manage to top Brand New Day or even The Odyssey? We’ll have to wait and see, but clearly there’s still a lot of demand if the quality is there.
Are you surprised at how well the box office has rebounded this year? Let us know in the comments.