Box office Along with the improvements in critical reception,
The Wolverine outgrossed
Origins in total box office, though earned less domestically. The film closed in US theaters on December 5, 2013, grossing $132,556,852 in North America (as opposed to $179,883,157 for the earlier film) and $282,271,394 in other territories (as opposed to the earlier film's $193,179,707), for a worldwide total of $414,828,246. When compared to the rest of the X-Men film franchise,
The Wolverine has garnered somewhat mixed results in terms of box office success. While its domestic gross is greater than the production budget, it is still lower than the other five films of the franchise, with its domestic box office total being roughly $45.1 million less than the franchise's average. However, its overseas total currently exceeds the franchise's average by roughly $75.7 million and is significantly more than any of the other X-Men films. With a worldwide total of roughly $414.8 million,
The Wolverine was at that time the third-highest-grossing film. In North America, the film opened at the top of the box office on its opening day, with $20.7 million, with $4 million coming from Thursday late-night showings. It held on to the number one spot through its first weekend, with $53,113,752, which was the lowest opening of the series until 2019's Dark Phoenix was released.
Critical response The
review aggregator website
Rotten Tomatoes reported approval rating with an average rating of based on reviews. The website's consensus reads, "Although its final act succumbs to the usual cartoonish antics,
The Wolverine is one superhero movie that manages to stay true to the comics while keeping casual viewers entertained." On
Metacritic, the film has a score of 61 out of 100, based on reviews from 46 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Audiences polled by
CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A−", on a scale from A+ to F.
Richard Roeper of the
Chicago Sun-Times gave it a grade of "B+", praising Jackman's performance as "strong, solid entertainment" and "a serious, sometimes dark and deliberately paced story." Christy Lemire, writing for the website of
Roger Ebert, said that the film "features some breathtakingly suspenseful action sequences, exquisite production and costume design and colorful characters, some of whom register more powerfully than others."
Variety film critic Peter Debruge called the film "an entertaining and surprisingly existential digression from his usual X-Men exploits. Though Wolvie comes across a bit world-weary and battle-worn by now, Jackman is in top form, taking the opportunity to test the character's physical and emotional extremes. Fans might've preferred bigger action or more effects, but Mangold does them one better, recovering the soul of a character whose near-immortality made him tiresome." James Buchanan of
TV Guide.com gave it three out of four stars, calling it "A rare comic-to-film adaptation that doesn't sacrifice substance for the sake of thrilling action." Scott Collura of
IGN praised the film giving it an 8.5 out of 10 and stated, "
The Wolverine is a stand alone adventure for the classic character that reminds us that there's more to this genre than universe-building and crossovers. ... [The] story paints a deep and compelling portrait of Logan, a haunted character that Jackman still finds new ways to play all these years later."
Peter Travers of
Rolling Stone felt that despite the film's final act "sink[ing] into CGI shit", Jackman's performance "still has the juice" and Mangold's directing "shows style and snap." Henry Barnes of
The Guardian gave the film a negative review, giving it two out of five stars and stating, "Hugh Jackman's sixth time out in the claws and hair combo is looking increasingly wearied, as the backstory gets more complicated and the action gets duller and flatter." Joe Neumaier of the
New York Daily News offered a similar view, saying "Hugh Jackman has the role of the mutant superhero down pat, but the rest of the film is the same old slice and dice." A common critique towards the film were aspects of the final act, particular in regard to the climactic fight with Silver Samurai and the Viper character. When promoting Logan, Mangold acknowledged the criticism, remarking that while
The Wolverine was meant as a small scale, more intimate film, the studio wanted "big, CG action" to stay afloat with the other big blockbusters that came out that year such as
Thor: The Dark World (2013) and
Man of Steel (2013).
Legacy Following the release of
The Wolverine, 20th Century Fox had begun negotiations with both Jackman and Mangold to return for another Wolverine movie. Mangold was scheduled to write the treatment, with Lauren Shuler Donner returning to produce. On March 20, 2014, Fox announced that the sequel would be released March 3, 2017. In retrospective reviews, several film critics such as Matthew Razak from Flixster, Alex Wench from
Inverse, and Matthew Mosley from
Collider have stated that
The Wolverine is the most underrated superhero movie of all time, while also noting its later influence and similarities with
Logan. Wench from
Inverse wrote "what they ended up getting is a film that stands as one of the most contemplative superhero movies ever made. The film digs deep into the mind of Wolverine, giving Jackman the chance to put his investment in the character on full display. In that way,
The Wolverine ends up being the perfect lead-in to 2017's
Logan, a film that not only sees Mangold and Jackman working together again but also revisiting and perfecting everything they did and didn't do right in their previous collaboration."
Accolades == Sequel ==