Disney gets approval for Deadpool & Wolverine release in China
LOS ANGELES – Walt Disney’s Deadpool & Wolverine will hit Chinese cinemas in July, a win for the studio after Beijing barred previous blockbuster releases at a time of frosty relations with the United States.
The decision, which Marvel Studios announced via Chinese social media platform Weibo on June 17, raises the earnings potential of one of Disney’s biggest films of 2024. The box-office takings of some American titles in China have historically exceeded revenue back home.
Marvel confirmed Deadpool & Wolverine was slated for a July 26 release after Bloomberg News reported earlier it was close to winning regulatory approval.
The latest Deadpool film, starring Canadian actor Ryan Reynolds and Australian actor Hugh Jackman, is scheduled to open in Singapore on July 25.
The third instalment in an R-rated, f-bomb-laden trilogy is the first since Disney acquired rights to make movies based on the Marvel comic-book character, after closing the US$71.3 billion (S$96.5 billion) acquisition of 21st Century Fox in 2019.
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Chinese regulators barred the first Deadpool from the country when it was released in 2016, and they allowed only a PG-13-rated version of 2018’s Deadpool 2. The first two Deadpool movies grossed a combined US$1.5 billion at the global box office.
Another franchise Disney acquired as part of the Fox deal was Avatar. The second film, released in 2022, was also cleared by Chinese regulators and became the third-highest-grossing movie in history, with US$2.3 billion in ticket sales.
On June 14, Disney released Inside Out 2, generating a US$295 million global haul in ticket sales that scored the biggest opening weekend in history for an animated film. BLOOMBERG