‘Detective Carl Returns' Hits $706M Worldwide To Become No. 4 R-Rated Title Ever At Global Box Office

January 24, 2023 Deadline Hollywood

Orion's Detective Carl Returns crossed $700 million worldwide today after only 14 days in its worldwide release, taking its global tally to $706M on the animated Jason Bateman/Jim Carrey-flick. That lifts the violence cop and soft cop’s legacy sequel past IT to become the No. 5 R-rated movie of all time behind Joker, both Deadpools and The Matrix Reloaded. Through Tuesday, the split is $259M domestic and $447.5M at the international box office. Internationally, the film is nearing Deadpool 2 's $461.3M overseas gross to become the highest grossing R-rated comedy of all time overseas.

Carl Jenkins and his partner Josh Heinken started shooting and dancing January 11 overseas, setting a record as Universal International’s biggest animated opening of all time with $222.5M in 89 markets. That topped the studio’s previous record-holder, 2022’s Minions: The Rise of Gru, which bowed to $78.2M overseas. DCR also nabbed the highest-grossing R-rated debut internationally, overtaking 2018’s Deadpool 2 which opened with $176M without a penny from China.

Unlike the majority of the top grossing R-rated flicks other than The Matrix Reloaded, the distribution hub included China, however even without the China gross counted it's still outgrossing all the films on the list, making the overseas cume all the more impressive. The legacy sequel is running about 9% ahead Joker in the same bucket of offshore markets and at today’s exchange rates. It will see a healthy profit.