EDITORIAL: Is DEADPOOL Really A 'Game-Changer' For Superhero Movies?
It's been a week since Deadpool smashed box office records and the Merc-with-a-Mouth is still going strong, but is it as influential as many are making it out to be? Hit the jump to read my take!
By Minty -
Feb 20, 2016 03:02 PM EST
So Deadpool is a resounding success. Didn’t I tell you so? Okay... maybe not in so many words. In fairness, I don’t think anyone predicted it would be that successful, but it came as a welcome surprise – and great news for comic book movie fans still reeling from the disaster that was Fant4stic. Indeed, Deadpool’s phenomenal $132.7 million opening weekend total not only broke multiple R-rated records, but also almost tripled Fant4stic’s entire domestic lifetime gross. Talk about a comeback for Fox.
That incredibly creative marketing campaign clearly worked wonders, as audiences have gone wild for it – and not just comic book loving dorks like you and me. My girlfriend wanted to see this, my flatmate wanted to see it, and even my pretentious indie artsy pal (who normally has no time for superhero movies) was in the theatre opening night. It’s truly remarkable what a couple of suggestive infomercials and a few well-placed emojis can do to sway an audience…
Naturally, the Internet’s next step was to blow Deadpool’s success completely out of proportion – because that’s just what we do. Within hours of the movie’s release, people were clamoring for more R-rated superhero adaptations – from X-Force, to Wolverine, to Batman, to Squirrel Girl. The media, meanwhile, were branding Tim Millar’s movie a “game-changer”, as Deadpool rapidly climbed up IMDb’s Top 250 to #54 (where it still inexplicably sits above The Shining, Aliens and Citizen Kane). Oh yes, there's been plenty of buzz - but was the hype real?
I personally enjoyed Deadpool without ever truly loving it. The humor was great, the action was slick and Ryan Reynolds was outstanding, but a surprisingly conventional story and a weaker third act left me skeptical about its ability to hold up on re-watch and it’s long-term legacy. My friend and fellow pessimist SauronsBANE perfectly summed up my feelings on the matter with a single tweet…
Was it a good movie? Absolutely, but is it the “game-changer” social media has been building it up to be. I wasn’t convinced. That is, until a few pieces of news that dropped this week began to change my mind. By now, I expect you will have heard about that rumor suggesting Hugh Jackman’s final outing as Wolverine will be R-rated. While the story's validity is questionable, it does stand to reason that 20th Century Fox may be less opposed to taking more R-rated risks with their X-Men universe following Deadpool immense box office success.
Of course, the danger Fox could fall into here is making every other superhero R-rated in a cheap and lazy attempt to recapture that lightning in a bottle from Deadpool. It's worth noting it wasn’t the movie’s R-rating that attracted audiences in the first place – it was its ability to distance itself from the ever-expanding crowd of superhero movies that continue to dominate Hollywood. The marketing campaign was successful because it was creative and original, not because Ryan Reynolds got to cuss a lot and talk about boobs. Well, not just because of that anyway...
Which brings us back to the Wolverine sequel. Given how established the character already is in the public’s mind, it’s tough to imagine how those marketing wizards at Fox could spin it as anything as anything other than a conventional superhero movie. As much as we all love Hugh, don’t expect to see Logan cracking jokes about his weaker movies, or posters of the character helping a mother give birth. In addition to conjuring some genuinely horrifying imagery, a stunt like that just isn't in character with Fox’s most popular X-Man, and marketing him like Deadpool would just come off as awkward and confusing to both hardcore fans and the general audience alike.
Of course there are some arguments for an R-rated Wolverine flick. Like Deadpool, he’s a character who has had a pretty violent history in the comics – albeit in a very different way to the Merc-with-a-Mouth. Allowing Hugh to go ‘full beserker’ with the character will no doubt please long-time fans, and potentially give rise to a better movie. James Mangold’ The Wolverine, while solid, didn’t really stand out much. Many viewers (including myself) took issue with the cartoonish giant robot Silver Samurai in the movie’s finale. The movie had actually impressed me until its inexplicable introduction,
It would be unfair to pin all of The Wolverine’s faults on its PG-13 rating (or the giant robot), but there’s a case to be made that had the movie been an R, it would never have been included. In that scenario, the movie would have received a much lower budget to play with (to account for lower returns at the box office). Chances are, the first thing to go would have been the robot in question, as a restricted budget would have forced Mangold to script a more creative finale instead of succumb to the standard blockbuster blowout. In doing so, this may have yielded a more memorable film that also appealed to hardcore Wolverine fans in a way that neither X-Men: Origins nor The Wolverine ever did.
Of course, that’s all hypothetical and there’s no changing the past now, but comparing it to Deadpool can provide a few lessons for the future. And that, I believe, is where Deadpool’s true legacy lies. By taking note of what they did right with Tim Millar’s film and finding a way to apply those selling points to James Mangold’s movie in a way that fits Logan's character, Fox can hopefully produce similarly strong results. Would that mean it would have to be R-rated? Not necessarily, but the studio should endeavor to make sure it stands out from the comic book movie crowd. And if Deadpool’s taught us one thing, a tighter budget and a more character-focused script might be a good start…
In fact, we’ve already seen a number of mid-budget franchise movies announced recently. Just this week, we learned that Paramount and its highly-touted ‘writers room’ planned on delivering a lower-budget Bumblebee spin-off in 2017. Put aside the fact that no one cares about Bumblebee for a moment, and this lower budget concept actually seem like it has potential. It sure as hell beats watching explosion after explosion as Michael Bay tears apart another city with mindless action for three hours. With the right director and a more heartfelt, small scale narrative, this spin-off could end up being the first decent Transformers film since 2007.
This spin-off probably wasn't directly inspired by Deadpool, but the movie’s huge profits from last weekend alone will no doubt have Paramount execs rubbing their hands together with glee. Ideally, this is a win-win scenario for everyone. The studios don’t have to spend as much money on big world-ending stakes and audiences get rewarded with more personal and (dare I say it) interesting blockbusters. I wouldn’t be surprised if over the next few months we see a few more of these mid-to-low budget franchise pieces begin to appear – starting with Fox’s Gambit, which, quite frankly, can easily be shot on at least half of that rumored $150 million budget.
The final lasting effect Deadpool looks to have had on the film industry is on the annual movie release calendar. Fox's finest piece of marketing came with their decision to open it on Valentine’s Day weekend – giving comic book geeks around the world a reason to drag their significant others to the theatre. The movie’s success in this slot, combined with strong returns from 50 Shades Of Grey & Kingsman: The Secret Service over the same weekend last year has opened studios executives' eyes to the possibility of scheduling blockbusters much earlier in the year than usual.
No longer Hollywood’s ‘dumping ground’, January & February appear primed for a box office surge over the next few years. This week alone brought news about two movies slated to open in January 2017 & January 2018 respectively in The Dark Tower & Blade Runner 2, while Legendary’s big-budget Chinese drama The Great Wall has been moved to February 2017. The Fast & Furious movies have extended the ‘summer blockbuster season’ to April over the past few years, while Batman v Superman will ensure it starts as early as March this year. With an incoming wave of mid-budget studio tentpoles and sequels in January & February, are we seeing the end of the blockbuster season as we know it? I’d wager we are - and Deadpool smashing records last weekend will have likely played a big part in that.
So is Deadpool a game-changer? I suppose it is, but not in the way some people will have you believe. Hopefully we won’t see a flux of over-the-top R-rated superhero movies trying to replicate its success, but rather, an increase in mid-budget properties and more character focused scripts. Heck, we might even see a few experimental marketing campaigns too! It sure beats TV spot after TV spot anyway. How much of an impact do you think Deadpool will have on the film industry? As always, I hope you enjoyed the read, and be sure to leave me your thoughts in the comments below!