Deadpool & Wolverine beats box office record

Marvel’s Deadpool & Wolverine has had an impressive opening weekend in the US – becoming the eighth-biggest opening ever, and best of the year so far.

The third Deadpool film – starring Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool and Hugh Jackman as Wolverine - made $205m (£160m) at its domestic box office, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

It also made it the best ever opening for an R-rated film – smashing the $134m record set by the first Deadpool in 2016. The film also opened to $233m (£182m) internationally.

It's a stark contrast to last year's The Marvels which made just $47m (£38m) in its first weekend in the US, making it the Marvel Cinematic Universe's lowest opening.

On Instagram, Reynolds thanked fans for going out to see the film, calling the success "kind of hard to process".

The film sees Deadpool trying to escape his superhero past. But his peaceful existence unravels when the MCU's Time Variance Authority - the group entrusted to balance the dizzying multiverse timelines - finds itself out of control.

Its corporate stooge Mr Paradox, played by Succession's Matthew Macfadyen, tries to covertly recruit Deadpool to help safeguard the central "sacred" timeline of reality by sacrificing his world. Refusing, he drags a begrudging, living, Wolverine into his timeline in a bid to save the day.

Reviews from critics have been mixed, but many described the film as the shot in the arm that Marvel needs. The film is also jam-packed with Marvel cameos.

The Guardian's three-star review said the film "mocks the MCU back to life", with Deadpool "basically right" in his saviour complex quip.

Variety praised Deadpool and Wolverine's "misty-eyed" fan service, as a "welcome corrective" to 15 years of MCU convolution, even if the special effects and action sequences don't always match 2018's sequel.

When asked about potential future spin-offs for the pair, Reynolds told the BBC: "I love being able to do a movie that is in and of itself just a movie. Deadpool and Wolverine isn't a commercial for another movie. It's just not part of the DNA."

Last week, Taylor Swift, who is friends with Reynolds and his wife Blake Lively, urged people to go to cinemas, saying Reynolds had done the "best work of his life".

The film with the year's previous biggest opening weekend, Pixar's Inside Out 2, continued its domination of the box office, as it passed $1.5bn (£1.1bn) worldwide.