Deadpool & Wolverine looks likely to be the saving grace of the MCU’s box office woes as projections point to a record-breaking $360 million opening weekend. After breaking records with the most-viewed trailer of all time and generating an extreme amount of hype for the movie that will finally bring its eponymous heroes and several other X-Men to the MCU, a vast box office projection is not surprising. Nevertheless, it will be a welcome boost to Marvel’s fortunes as it looks set to exceed the opening weekend of The Marvels by more than 200%.

The Marvels opened to just $110 million in November 2023, and according to Deadline’s figures, Deadpool & Wolverine‘s $360 million will be the biggest R-rated opening of all time, beating the previous record set by Deadpool‘s $132 million. If this projection proves true, it could be one of the MCU’s biggest-ever opening weekends, beaten only by the PG-13 Spider-Man: No Way Home and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness in the Multiverse Saga. Despite its R-rating, the projection is a testament to Ryan Reynolds’ and Hugh Jackman’s combined star power.

6How Deadpool & Wolverine’s Opening Weekend Box Office Projections Compare To Recent MCU Movies

The Multiverse Saga has been a mixed bag for the MCU as it has housed huge successes and historic flops. While Avengers: Endgame will always be hard to beat (at one point being the highest-grossing movie of all time), the Multiverse Saga’s Spider-Man: No Way Home remains the MCU’s third-highest-grossing movie. Deadpool & Wolverine also has the chance to become another $1 billion grossing MCU movie – especially if the projected opening weekend is anything to go by.

With that being said, the fact that Deadpool & Wolverine‘s projections fall short of Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness‘ by nearly $100 million means that this isn’t set in stone. The Doctor Strange sequel ended up grossing $950 million worldwide. A similar fate could befall the Deadpool sequel, but one thing that seems certain is that it may well trounce The Marvels‘ $200 million worldwide box office gross in its opening weekend alone. Black Widow also earned $380 million worldwide, though this was arguably hampered by a simultaneous release on Disney+.

What remains clear is that Deadpool & Wolverine will have to rely on its own quality to continue soaring. DC’s Joker managed to break $1 billion despite its R-rating, and enjoyed a global opening weekend of $247 million. Evidently, the quality of Joker is what helped it move over the line as it continued to rake in audiences weeks later, so whether Deadpool & Wolverine follows the same trend is still up for debate, but very plausible.