“Deadpool” directed by Tim Miller has already broken some astounding records. Not only as the highest grossing R-rated superhero film of all time, but even surpassing “The Matrix: Reloaded”, thus making it the highest grossing R-rated film of all time. Of course, this really shouldn’t come as much of a surprise given the fact that it had quite the hype train behind it during its years of production. However, another element in which probably aided the success of “Deadpool” was the widespread belief that “Deadpool” was the only R-rated superhero film, but that is not true at all. All three “The Punisher” films from 1989, 2004, and 2008 released with an R-rating. There are countless other examples, such as “Kick-Ass” and “Blade,” but for all intents and purposes, I’m not counting those. Those films were more-so comic book adaptations rather than actual superhero adaptations, much like “The Punisher” was.
That being said, how did “Deadpool” accomplish so much when “The Punisher” accomplished so little? There are many reasons; most of which are purely subjective. These reasons can range from the popularity of the actual character, Deadpool, to the aggressive advertisement campaign behind it. Truthfully, there are so many variables in play that it is almost impossible to really narrow down how “Deadpool” succeeded so much, but one fact is certain: the success of “Deadpool” has already changed the movie industry in small and subtle ways.
Not long after the release and quick success of “Deadpool,” details had been leaked about “Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice” involving the final cut. The details leaked essentially told of an R-rated version of the film to be released on Blu-ray sometime after the film released in theaters. Obviously this is old news now, given the fact that “Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice” has already been out for some time, but this information wasn’t leaked until after “Deadpool” had been released. Perhaps it is by pure coincidence, but it makes one wonder if this leak would’ve even been relevant had “Deadpool” been an utter failure. Yes, “Batman V. Superman: Dawn of Justice” had already been planned to arrive some short time after “Deadpool” thus meaning the film had already had the intention of releasing an R-rated cut. However, that factor wasn’t important till after “Deadpool” succeeded. Perhaps the leak was actually a business strategy to draw in more of an audience for the Batman and Superman film after the world witnessed the success of “Deadpool.”
Much can be speculated about this, but I do believe there is no coincidence here. This is just the beginning of subtle changes to come, thanks to Tim Miller’s vision for the beloved comic book character, Deadpool. To confirm this subtle change, rumors have begun to spread that the next Wolverine film is aiming for an R-rating, despite having a previous track record of strictly PG-13 films. I don’t think many people realize just how huge that is in terms of Marvel’s established X-Men films and films in general, but this is certainly quite a change in pace. Who knows, perhaps there are no correlations between “Deadpool” and any of these changes, but it cannot be denied that these leaks only came after the film had been such a huge hit. Perhaps this subtle change has birthed a new trend in R-rated films overall.
