Ryan Reynolds Congratulates ‘The Odyssey’ for Surpassing ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ as the Highest-Grossing R-Rated Film Ever

Box office records rarely fall quietly, but few rivalries have played out with quite as much self-aware humor as the one brewing around R-rated cinema’s biggest crown. For two years, one Marvel team-up has sat comfortably atop that particular mountain, seemingly untouchable.

That comfort officially ended this week. Christopher Nolan’s sprawling adaptation of Homer’s epic poem has been closing the gap for weeks, and the final numbers have now made it official.

‘The Odyssey’ has overtaken ‘Deadpool & Wolverine‘ to become the highest-grossing R-rated movie of all time, and Ryan Reynolds himself confirmed the record change with a post on X and Instagram. “Congratulations to the entire cast and crew of The Odyssey for becoming the highest-grossing R-rated movie of all time,” Reynolds wrote, before adding the punchline: “That is one helluva car.”

The joke lands because Reynolds has been running a bit about Honda’s Odyssey minivan ever since ‘Deadpool 2,’ and he leaned all the way into it here. Attached to the post was a 36-second clip splicing together Wade Wilson and Logan brawling inside a Honda Odyssey with footage of Matt Damon’s Odysseus trudging through the woods, all set to “You’re the One That I Want” from ‘Grease.’

‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ closed out its 2024 theatrical run with $1.338 billion worldwide, split between $636.7 million domestic and $701.3 million international. ‘The Odyssey’ had been trailing that mark by less than $40 million heading into the week, with China’s August 14 release across more than 20,000 screens ultimately closing the distance.

The two films got to similar totals in very different ways. ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ leaned heavily on North America, which made up nearly half its haul, while ‘The Odyssey’ has pulled roughly 60 percent of its gross from international markets. It is also worth noting that Universal made ‘The Odyssey’ for a reported $250 million, well under the $537 million Disney spent on production and marketing for the Marvel sequel.

The R-rated record is just one milestone in a run that has been piling them up. ‘The Odyssey’ is already Christopher Nolan’s highest-grossing film ever, surpassing ‘The Dark Knight Rises’ and its $1.085 billion total from 2012.

The film also holds the all-time IMAX box office record with $289.3 million, edging past ‘Avatar’s’ $271 million, and stands as the first narrative feature shot entirely on IMAX film cameras. With Japan not opening until September 11, there is still room for the total to climb further.

Predictably, the reaction to Reynolds’ post has not been quiet. Comments across both platforms have pushed him toward a fourth ‘Deadpool’ movie specifically to reclaim the title, with fans framing it as unfinished business rather than a friendly concession.

Reynolds has recently hinted that another ‘Deadpool’ film is in the works, and between crashing Comic-Con and turning up alongside Hugh Jackman in D23 promos, he has hardly gone quiet on the character. Whether that translates into another R-rated box office run remains to be seen, but for now, the crown belongs to Odysseus.

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