THE ODYSSEY Passes DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE To Become the Highest-Grossing R-Rated Movie Ever and Ryan Reynolds Responds
Deadpool just lost one of his biggest records, and naturally, Ryan Reynolds had a pretty great response to it.
Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey has officially sailed past Deadpool & Wolverine at the worldwide box office, becoming the highest-grossing R-rated movie of all time.
Nolan’s massive fantasy epic has now earned an estimated $1.34 billion globally, edging past the Marvel Studios blockbuster’s $1.338 billion total.
It’s an impressive milestone, especially considering how close the race still was just a few days ago. The Odyssey was trailing Deadpool & Wolverine by roughly $47 million, but its release in China helped close that gap. The movie is also still playing in theaters, so its final worldwide total has more room to grow.
For comparison, Deadpool & Wolverine carried a reported combined production and marketing budget of $537 million. The Odyssey reportedly cost around $250 million to produce.
Nolan recently discussed the success of The Odyssey with Jon Stewart, explaining that the opportunity to make a movie on this scale came in large part from the massive success of his previous film, Oppenheimer.
"Coming out of my last film, Oppenheimer had way more success than I think we had any right to expect, and that gives you an opportunity to get something made that you might not otherwise be able to get made.”
Nolan also acknowledged that the awards success of Oppenheimer gave him some extra leverage when it came time to convince the studio to back such an enormous undertaking.
“I think the Oscar thing helped," he added. "I think it all helped to go to the studio and say — because being The Odyssey, it needs a massive budget.
“It needs a massive cast. It needs a lot. I like to say it was a very hard movie, but hard for all the right reasons. It’s The Odyssey. It should be hard. It shows up on screen.”
It certainly paid off. Nolan took the momentum from Oppenheimer and used it to make an expensive R-rated adaptation of one of the most famous stories ever written. Now it has taken the R-rated box office crown away from two of Marvel’s biggest characters.
As for Ryan Reynolds, he seems perfectly happy to hand over the title. After The Odyssey officially passed Deadpool & Wolverine, Reynolds jumped on social media to congratulate Nolan and everyone involved with the film, while throwing in a very Reynolds-style joke and mashup video.
"Congratulations to the entire cast and crew of The Odyssey for becoming the highest-grossing R-rated movie of all time. That is one helluva car."
It was always going to take something huge to knock Deadpool & Wolverine out of the top spot, and Nolan apparently found the answer in Homer. With The Odyssey still in theaters, the question now us how high its final worldwide box office total will climb.