Disney Wins China’s Approval to Screen ‘Deadpool’ in July

(Bloomberg) -- Walt Disney Co.’s Deadpool & Wolverine will hit Chinese theaters next month, a win for the studio after Beijing barred previous blockbuster releases at a time of frosty relations with the US.

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The decision, which Marvel Studios announced via social media Monday, raises the earnings potential of one of Disney’s biggest films of the year. The box-office takings of some American titles in China have historically exceeded revenue back home.

Marvel confirmed the latest Deadpool film was slated for a July 26 release after Bloomberg News reported earlier it was close to winning regulatory approval.

The third installment 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 $71.3 billion acquisition of 21st Century Fox in 2019. 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 $1.5 billion at the global box office. Deadpool & Wolverine is scheduled to be released in the US in July.

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 $2.3 billion in ticket sales.

On June 14, Disney released Inside Out 2, generating a $295 million global haul in ticket sales that scored the biggest opening weekend in history for an animated film.

--With assistance from Mayumi Negishi.

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