AMC Theatres CEO Adam Aron is riding the Deadpool & Wolverine high… at least according to his X (formerly Twitter) post.
Aron said that the Ryan Reynolds-Hugh Jackman movie is off to an amazing start. Not only that, its first-day advance ticket sales also set a new record for the US' largest theater franchise, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Tickets for the highly anticipated Marvel Studios sequel, which will officially be released in North American on July 26, went on sale Monday.
Deadpool & Wolverine: record-breaking first-day ticket sales
“Some 200,000 movie fans have bought their AMC tickets already. This is more Day 1 ticket sales at AMC than for any other R-rated movie ever,” Aron wrote.
Fandango, an online ticketing service which sells tickets for most cinemas, also reported robust ticket sales for Deadpool & Wolverine. The company said that the sales were the best of the year. It's also a franchise best and one for the books for an R-rated movie.
Neither Fandango nor AMC reported actual dollar amounts. However, insiders told THR that the first-day sales hover around the $8 million to $9 million going by the 200,000 figure Aron cited.
Neither Marvel Studios nor the film's stars or director Shawn Levy have commented, but it seems that Deadpool & Wolverine may just make $100 million when it's released. This is an accomplishment no movie released this year has done yet. Domestic box office earnings are down 20% compared to 2023's. This is in large part due to the delays in production because of the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes.
“Survive to 25,” has been an industry mantra frequently used by Aron when he addresses investors anxious about the downturn.
To compare Deadpool numbers, the first movie released in 2012 made $132.4 million and the 2018 sequel earned $125 million on their opening days. These are the biggest first-day ticket sales for R-rated movies, not even adjusted for inflation.
Disney and Marvel's first R-rated film
There's a lot of hype surrounding the movie. Cine Geek released an official not-safe-for-work synopsis:
“Marvel Studios presents their most significant mistake to date — Deadpool and Wolverine. A listless Wade Wilson toils away in civilian life. His days as the morally flexible mercenary, Deadpool, behind him. When his homeworld faces an existential threat, Wade must reluctantly suit up again with an even more reluctantlier… reluctanter? Reluctantest? He must convince a reluctant Wolverine to—F**k. Synopses are so f**king stupid.”
It reads like Wilson himself wrote it. Or maybe Reynolds' film production company and digital marketing agency, Maximum Effort. The company has taken charge of the Deadpool movies' marketing since the first film.
Not that Marvel nor Disney don't have the resources to do so, but this is the first R-rated movie that both studios' have ever released. Its marketing and promotions need to align with the movie's theme and there's no one better do it than Reynolds and his team.
If you remember, the first Deadpool movie's trailer was “leaked.” After that, the audience's massive demand for a complete film may have pushed 20th Century Fox to greenlight the film. To date, Reynolds hasn't admitted responsibility for the leak.
The actor, for his part, has said that he's surprised that Disney allowed the R-rating. He also said that he's grateful.
““I hope this doesn’t sound condescending, I'm really proud of them for doing this,” Reynolds told Fandango.
“It's a huge step for them, it adds a whole color to this kaleidoscopic wheel that is that company and the different people that they have been entertaining for forever,” he added.
There's no way the Deadpool movies would have been as successful as they have been without the R-rating. And as the self-proclaimed Marvel Jesus, as sacrilegious as that may be with the rating it has, it may just be what Disney needs.
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