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Deadpool & Wolverine is the highest-grossing R-rated movie in history*

*If you don’t account for inflation

8/19/24 9:02AM

Deadpool & Wolverine, the super meta Marvel movie starring Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman, has eclipsed 2019’s Joker to become the highest-grossing R-rated movie ever, having taken $1.14 billion worldwide.

Technically, however, when you adjust for inflation, Mel Gibson’s The Passion of the Christ is still the top-grossing R-rated movie in domestic box office history… for now.

A Marvel match made in marketing

Indeed, Marvel’s first R-rated movie has climbed the charts in just 4 weekends and became only the second release to cross the $1 billion threshold in 2024, on the heels of another Disney follow-up (Inside Out 2).

The financial success of the 34th installment in the MCU suggests that Ryan Reynolds’ theory about the movie — that it’s the first R-rated film to fit the “four-quadrant” model, where a movie appeals to males and females, as well as those above and below 25 — is on the money, with Marvel’s president Kevin Feige calling it the “most wholesome R-rated film that anybody can ever see”.

R-rated movies market share — Sherwood News

The Deadpool threequel is helping to spark a resurgence for the age rating, which requires under-17s to be accompanied by a parent or guardian. Thanks mostly to the Marvel flick, a new Bad Boys movie, and a handful of horrors, R-rated movies have accounted for just shy of 30% of domestic box office takings so far this year — the highest market share (pandemic era aside) since the turn of the century.

Hyunsoo Rim

WOULD LOVE TO CONNECT

1/19/26

Why people are flirting on LinkedIn — and job hunting on Tinder

The job market is tough, and so is dating. Americans are starting to mix the two.

Tom Jones

newborn ultimatum

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Despite the government’s best efforts, China’s birth rate just hit a new low

Deaths in the nation, meanwhile, have never been higher in the 21st century.

Empty baby stroller on stone steps on a sunny day

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OpenAI set to air a minute-long Super Bowl ad for a second consecutive year, per WSJ

OpenAI is expected to broadcast a lengthy commercial at Super Bowl LX, The Wall Street Journal reported Monday.

Having aired its first-ever paid ad at last year’s Big Game, the ChatGPT maker is set to take another 60-second ad slot during NBC’s broadcast on February 8, according to people familiar with the matter.

Exclusive | OpenAI Set to Run Another Super Bowl Ad as Chatbot Competition Heats Up

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GOLDEN RATIO

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Big winners at the Golden Globes could indicate this week’s Oscar noms

With the Academy’s nominations voting opening today, the results of the Globes might signal the direction of certain Oscars categories (statistically speaking).

Chalamet with award at the Golden Globes

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Tamagotchis are making a comeback, 3 decades after first becoming a global toy craze

If you were a ’90s kid, you might remember the craze around little egg-shaped toys with an 8-bit digital screen, displaying an ambiguous pet-thing that demanded food and attention.

Now, on the brand’s 30th anniversary, the Tamagotchi — the Japanese pocket-sized virtual pet that launched a thousand cute and needy tech companions, from Nintendogs to fluffy AI robots — is making a minor comeback.

Tamagotchi Google Search Trends — Sherwood News

Looking at Google Trends data, searches for “tamagotchi” spiked in December in the US, up around 80% from just six months prior, with the most search volume in almost two decades.

While the toys are popular Christmas gifts, with interest volumes often seen ticking up in December each year, the sudden interest might also have something to do with the birthday celebrations that creator and manufacturer Bandai Namco are putting on, including a Tokyo exhibition that opened on Wednesday.

Game, set, hatch

More broadly, modern consumers appear to have a growing obsession with collectibles (see: Labubu mania), as well as a taste for nostalgia (see: the iPod revival, among many other trends).

But, having finally hit 100 million sales in September last year, the brand itself is probably just glad to exist, giving a whole new generation the chance to experience the profound grief of an unexpected Tamagotchi death.