Disney’s latest blockbuster Deadpool & Wolverine headlines this weekend’s UK-Ireland box office, aiming to revive the recent fortunes of the once-mighty Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU).
A sequel to Deadpool and Deadpool 2 as well as a follow-up to Logan, the film sees Deadpool pulled from his quiet life by the Time Variance Authority and set on a mission to save his universe – during which he collides with Wolverine from another universe. Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman reprise their roles as the titular superheroes, with Matthew Macfadyen, Morena Baccarin and Screen Stars of Tomorrow Emma Corrin and Dafne Keen also among the cast.
Deadpool & Wolverine is the 34th MCU film. After the first five titles all took between £8.3m and £21.2m, 2012’s Avengers Assemble changed the nature of blockbuster box office takings with a huge £51.9m UK-Ireland gross, closing out MCU ‘Phase One’.
That level became the norm, with 16 of the 24 films in phases Two, Three and Four taking more than £30m; and seven of them taking more than £40m.
However Phase Five of the series has seen takings start to drop off. Ant-Man And The Wasp: Quantumania fell short of the £20m mark in spring last year; and while Guardians Of The Galaxy Vol 3. made £36.7m, it was down on the £41m of the previous Guardians film.
The Marvels, released in November 2023, hit a new low: its £3.5m opening was the third-lowest in the entire franchise, with the lowest opening location average of £5,203. It ended on £7.2m – the lowest-grossing MCU title to date, behind the £8.3m of 2008’s The Incredible Hulk.
However, with Deadpool & Wolverine, the track record of the two frenemies as they enter the franchise offers hope for Disney. 2016’s Deadpool opened to £10m on its way to a £38.1m total; while Deadpool 2 started with £7.7m and ended on £32.9m, both through Fox.
It is the ninth film to star Jackman as Wolverine, with the previous eight existing in the X-Men franchise, the highest-grossing of which was 2014’s X-Men: Days Of Future Past with £27.3m. Logan, a spin-off Wolverine film starring Jackman and Keen, opened to £6.9m in 2017, ending on a decent £23.9m.
MCU titles tend to be front-loaded, meaning they make bigger-than-average portion of their total box office in the first week or two of the run, then drop off at a faster rate than other films.
Independent challengers
Deadpool & Wolverine will dominate cinema space for the next fortnight – London’s Westfield Shepherd’s Bush cinema is playing 39 screenings of the film on Saturday alone.
There is still space for counter-programming options, such as Picturehouse Entertainment’s About Dry Grasses in 38 cinemas – the widest-ever release for a film by Turkish filmmaker Nuri Bilge Ceylan.
About Dry Grasses premiered in Competition at Cannes 2023, winning the best actress prize for Merve Dizdar; and going on to become Turkey’s entry to the 2024 Oscars.
The film follows a teacher working in rural eastern Anatolia with hopes of moving to Istanbul – who is then accused of abusing a student.
Park Circus is opening Jane Schoenbrun’s psychological drama I Saw The TV Glow in 45 cinemas. A Sundance 2024 premiere which then played Berlin and SXSW, the film follows two young friends whose connection to their favourite TV show drives them to question their reality and identities.
Justice Smith and Brigette Lundy-Paine lead the cast, with Emma Stone and Dave McCary among the producers through their company Fruit Tree. Park Circus, which handles both new releases and repertory titles, is also putting Hugh Hudson’s 1981 classic Chariots Of Fire in 11 sites this week.
The run of Southeast Asian titles continues with Arfaz Ayub’s drama Level Cross, about a modern girl and an unruly man from different worlds who meet and discover similarities about their lives. Yash Raj Films is opening the title in 63 cinemas.
New Wave Films is opening Tatiana Huezo’s Berlinale 2023 Encounters title The Echo in eight UK sites. A documentary about a remote Mexican mountain community, it is Mexican filmmaker Huezo’s first feature since Cannes 2021 title Prayers For The Stolen.
The summer slate is now coming together fast, with holdovers including Universal’s Despicable Me 4, Warner Bros’ Twisters, Disney’s Inside Out 2 and Black Bear’s Longlegs all looking to compete with Deadpool & Wolverine.
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