I think what's helping is that a lot of us older folks (I'm 31) have been going to see summer blockbusters since we were kids. Now we're older, but still want the spectacle of those films just now dressed in a more mature tone.
That's not to say this is a blockbuster type film, it's actually the antithesis to a Summer blockbuster in many ways. But the Wolverine brand is a blockbuster brand and so allowing him to be his violent, sometimes nihilistic self was special to see
WTF.... as a kid (i'm 34 now), i saw all them violent shiits in the theater (Cyborg, Universal Solder, Double Impact, Sliver with Sharon Stone... no fukks given).
I understood it was entertainment and enjoyed it as such.
This whole rhetoric about not included the kids... fukkin' this is the age of YOUTUBE and all my little relatives know every curse word and sex name imaginable. Shiits way worse now than it was 20 plus years ago and they still cautious about making R rated movies?
WTF Hollywood. Tinseltown is the most shady and sex oriented place in the planet... how dare they skimp on the R rated factor when kids love it and it DOES make money.