In 2024, Deadpool & Wolverine became the highest-grossing R-rated movie ever by earning $1.338 billion worldwide. Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey has since beaten the blockbuster, grossing $1.557 billion and counting as it continues to perform strongly.
Ryan Reynolds has already congratulated Nolan and The Odyssey's cast and crew for their record-breaking achievement. Now, though, doing the rounds to promote Mayday, the actor talked more about passing the baton to the fantasy epic.
"Obviously, ['The Odyssey’' is an incredible, incredible movie," he shared on the red carpet. "Christopher Nolan literally breathes the rarest air on Earth. He’s a singular filmmaker."
Reynolds continued, "I mean, Matt Damon, Tom Holland, who’s clearly batting a thousand stars with Zendaya. I just love that people are going to the movie theaters. I don’t even care why or for what reason. Just go to the movie theaters. There’s no better shared experience."
The actor's latest movie, Mayday, isn't getting a theatrical release. Instead, it's being released on Apple TV, with streaming now the go-to destination for many titles that would struggle in crowded multiplexes.
Reynolds stars in the film with Thor director Kenneth Branagh, who has confirmed that even he's in the dark about why the God of Thunder was crying over the downed Merc with a Mouth in Deadpool & Wolverine.
"He worries about offending me, that’s what it is," Branagh joked. "That was my baby, you know! Way back before you came in."
After a memorable—albeit for all the wrong reasons—cameo as Wade Wilson in 2009's X-Men Origins: Wolverine, Reynolds finally suited up as a comic-accurate version of the Merc with a Mouth in 2016's Deadpool.
A sequel, Deadpool 2, followed two years later, but plans for a third movie (and X-Force) fell by the wayside when the Disney/Fox merger happened. In 2024, we got Deadpool & Wolverine, a critical and commercial hit that left fans eager for more.
Reynolds' Deadpool and Hugh Jackman's Wolverine are next expected to appear in Avengers: Doomsday and Avengers: Secret Wars. There have also been reports that Reynolds is penning a team-up project for the Mutant Saga, potentially featuring Deadpool, Wolverine, Storm, and Cable.
You can hear more from Reynolds in the player below.