James Mangold not only got it right the second time, he executed perfectly. You may remember his work from 'The Wolverine,' the second Wolverine movie. After not being satisfied with how that one turned out, he said he'd only do another one if he could do it his way. It turns out his way was the best way. The story was very fitting of Wolverine's character. It was a dark and hopeless movie, that shows a glimmer of light in the end.
Spoiler, but Wolverine dies in the end. This movie makes a great argument for one-of superhero movies. If you don't care about the sequels you can take bigger risks. The big risks pay off. Guess what? Then you can just make another one next year and we'll still go and see it. That's why it's a non-MCU movie that lands in number one.