Deadpool & Wolverine” breaks records with N41.6m opening day in Nigeria

• Published On: 28 July 2024 at 14:09

The highly anticipated Marvel movie "Deadpool & Wolverine" made an excellent launch in Nigerian cinemas, generating N41.6 million in ticket sales on its first day, Friday, July 26, 2024.

This statistic, given by the Nigerian Box Office, excludes preview screenings on Wednesday and Thursday.

With this great start, the picture is on course to gross over N130 million in ticket sales during its three-day opening weekend. "Deadpool & Wolverine" has a $200 million production budget and an additional $100 million in marketing, putting it alongside top-grossing entries in the Multiverse Saga like "Spider-Man: No Way Home," "Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness," and "Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania."

The Nigerian premiere took place on Wednesday, July 24, 2024, at Filmhouse Cinema IMAX Lekki in Lagos, with a star-studded red carpet event featuring celebrities such as Omotunde Adebowale-David (Lolo), Denrele Edun, Emmanuel Ikubese, Oluwadollarz, Abayomi Alvin, Elozonam, Tomiwa Tegbe, and Uti Nwachukwu.

Globally, "Deadpool & Wolverine" made an astonishing $96 million on its first day, making it the sixth-highest debut in history and the greatest opening day total for an R-rated film. With an extra $115 million from international markets, the film's total global earnings have surpassed $211 million.

The impressive global performance implies that "Deadpool & Wolverine" has not only recouped its $200 million production budget, but is also on track to reach $400 million by Sunday. This success demonstrates the film's broad popularity as well as the great performances of lead stars Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman.

The first "Deadpool" film cost $58 million and earned $132 million in its domestic debut, generating more than $780 million globally. "Deadpool 2" (2018) followed with a $125 million domestic start and over $786 million worldwide, confirming Ryan Reynolds' rise to big movie star status.

Hugh Jackman, well known for his famous portrayal of Wolverine, had already departed the character following 2017's "Logan," which grossed more than $600 million globally. The opportunity to join the Marvel Cinematic Universe for this new film pulled him back, much to the delight of fans worldwide.

"Deadpool & Wolverine" is poised to be one of the year's biggest hits, blending humour, action, and star power in a way that honours the heritage of its beloved characters while paving the way for future Marvel adventures.