Deadpool & Wolverine smashes R-rated record with $313 million debut, the eighth biggest opening ever

Marvel is back on top with Deadpool & Wolverine. The comic-book movie made a staggering $US205 million ($313 million) million in its first weekend in North American theatres, according to studio estimates released on Sunday.

It shattered the opening record for R-rated films previously held by the first Deadpool with $US132 million ($201 million) and notched a spot in the top 10 openings of all time.

Including international showings, where it's racked up an additional $US233.3 million, Deadpool & Wolverine is looking at a global opening of more than $US438.3 million.

Fittingly for both characters' introduction to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Deadpool & Wolverine played less like earlier X-Men or Deadpool movies and more like an Avengers pic.

In the top US opening weekends ever, Deadpool & Wolverine is seated in eighth place between The Avengers and Black Panther, bumping Avengers: Age of Ultron out of the top 10.

It's by far biggest opening of the year, unseating Disney's  Inside Out 2  ($US154.2 million) and the most tickets a movie has sold in its debut weekend since Barbie ($US162 million) stormed theatres last July. These are numbers previously thought impossible for an R-rated film.

The Walt Disney Studios release arrived at a pivotal time for an industry grappling with box office returns that continue to run at a double-digit deficit from last year.

The success is also an important moment for Marvel Studios, which has had several high-profile disappointments lately; Most notably in The Marvels, which opened to an MCU low of $47 million last November.

Marvel's saviour came in the form of two characters who got their start outside of the MCU, and carried a Motion Picture Association rating that seemed to have an earnings cap.

Both Deadpool and Wolverine, played by Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman, existed previously under the 21st Century Fox banner which for two decades had the rights to Marvel characters like the X-Men and Fantastic Four.

That changed when Disney acquired the studio's film and TV assets in early 2019 and plans started to take shape of how all these characters would fit into Kevin Feige's MCU. In some cases, as with Fantastic Four, Marvel Studios is starting fresh. With Deadpool & Wolverine, the stars were as crucial as their characters.

Going into the weekend, $U200 million domestic seemed like a pipe dream. Analysts were more conservative with predictions in the $US160 million range. But from the start of the 3pm Thursday preview screenings it was clear that Deadpool & Wolverine was more powerful.

By the end of Friday, it had already made $US96 million and received a coveted A CinemaScore from audiences. Critics, too, have been mostly positive.

Second place went to Universal's Twisters, now in its second weekend with $U35.3 million. The standalone sequel to Twister has now earned $US154.9 million in North America.

Universal also claimed third place with Despicable Me 4, which added $US14.2 million in its fourth weekend, bringing its domestic total to nearly $US291 million.