Of all the many,manyquestions surrounding Fox’s move under the bajillion-dollar Disney umbrella, one of the more intriguing concerns what exactly will happen to theDeadpoolfranchise.Ryan Reynolds' Merc with the Mouth broke the mold when it debuted with an R-rating and nabbed $363 million domestically on a $58 million budget. (Its sequel,Deadpool 2, brought in $318 million, while a PG-13 cut garnered little interest.) But suchvulgarityisn’t usually welcome inside the House of Mouse, leavingDeadpool’s future uncertain.
Fear not, fans of the fuck word. Speaking during Disney’s Q1 earnings call, CEO Bob Iger noted that Marvel will still very much be in theDeadpoolbusiness [viaAshley Rodriguez].
“We see that there is certainly popularity amongst Marvel fans for the R-ratedDeadpoolfilms," Iger said. “We’re going to continue in that business and there might be room for more of that.”
The second part of that statement is a bit vague as to whether Iger is referring specifically to R-rated Marvel movies or like, a grittyAladdinoff-shoot where Abu has a machine gun. The executive did note that Disney is “carefully branding” any potential R-rated movies, which most likely means these projects wouldn’tfeellike your classic Disney film on the surface. This, of course, only brings up more questions as to what would happen should Deadpoolhypotheticallycross over into the decidedly un-meta world of theAvengersfilms.
The first project that comes to mind with a darker tone is the horror/comic hybridNew Mutants, which has been in development hell for a while now. But while speaking to Collider’s Christina Radish, producerLauren Shuler Donnerrevealedthat the X-Men projects post-Dark Phoenixare mostly a question mark right now.
“Everything is on hold, since Disney took over,” Donner said. “Right now, it’s all in Disney’s hands. We don’t know what they’re gonna do. Now, it goes to Kevin Feige, who was my protégé. He and I startedX-Mentogether, so I do trust him, not only based on knowing him and knowing how he knows the story so well, but on pure evidence.”
How do you think Disney will handleDeadpool? What other R-rated movies do you think the studio could crank out? Sound off in the comments.
