Deadpool congratulates Wonder Woman on beating it at the US box office

Deadpool congratulates Wonder Woman on box office success (credit: 20th Century Fox/Warner Bros)

We’re often under the impression that things are cut-throat in the Hollywood big leagues, where studios launch mega-budget tent-pole pictures in the hope of out-grossing their rivals. This seems never more true when it comes to competing Marvel and DC properties, hinging on tensions between the comic book giants which date back decades. However, this might not always be the case.

Warner Bros/DC’s ‘Wonder Woman,’ already lauded as the best film made yet in the DC Extended Universe, continues to soar at the box office. Already the highest-grossing DCEU movie on its home soil, this weekend saw ‘Wonder Woman’s US box office takings break $368 million.

This, according to Box Office Mojo, makes ‘Wonder Woman’ the tenth most successful comic book movie in the US – overtaking previous tenth place holder ‘Deadpool,’ which made $363 million domestically in 2016. (Still, at present ‘Deadpool’s global box office haul of $783 million beats ‘Wonder Woman’s takings of $745 million worldwide – but this will likely change soon.)

Happily, the ‘Deadpool’ team show no signs of sour grapes, as the film’s official Twitter posted this tribute to ‘Wonder Woman’s success (which was later retweeted by ‘Deadpool’ leading man Ryan Reynolds):

Naturally there’s a hint of that trademark ‘Deadpool’ schoolboy humour in there (in case you need it spelling out, B.O. means both ‘box office’ and ‘body odour’), but this remains is a very good-hearted display of congratulations between blockbuster properties which might ordinarily be positioned as rivals.

Nor are the ‘Deadpool’ team the first competitors to doff their cap to ‘Wonder Woman.’ Those to have publicly praised the film’s success include Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige, Marvel Cinematic Universe actors Chris Evans, Mark Ruffalo and Karen Gillan, and directors Joss Whedon and James Gunn.

This noble tradition of ‘rival’ filmmakers toasting one another’s success dates back to what is generally regarding the beginning of the blockbuster era in the late 1970s. When ‘Star Wars’ overtook ‘Jaws’ to become the biggest box office hit of the time, Steven Spielberg took out a full-page ad in Variety to congratulate his friend George Lucas.

Spielberg’s 1978 Variety tribute to ‘Star Wars’ (credit: Variety/The Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences)

Lucas later returned the gesture when Spielberg’s ‘ET: the Extra Terrestrial’ overtook ‘Star Wars.’

George Lucas’s 1983 Variety tribute to ‘ET’ (credit: Variety)