So this week "Deadpool fans" were treated with the trailer for the upcoming Deadpool movie. While the trailer has gotten a lot of hype, I can't help but see all the hall marks of potential failure.
It has an R rating so kids can't go watch it, I'm sure Fox should know that what makes the Marvel movies such a success is that EVERYONE can watch em, and I'm sure a massive part of the profits come from kids dragging their family to screenings; and what about the franchise outside the films? If kids aren't watching Deadpool then they aren't buying Deadpool merchandise, which in turn limits the franchise greatly.
You could argue that films like Mad Max: Fury Road and even Rambo 4 got decent results from it's R ratings, but these weren't superhero / comic book movies. These were established franchises that had a mature following. I think one major thing comic book movies should not over look is that kids still do read comics, regardless of how old comic fans like you and I are.
Lets not forget what happened with The Punisher films. The first film had an R rating with generally negative reviews that barely made it's money back. (Budget of 33 Million earning 54.7 Million at the Box office)
Punisher: War Zone upped the antics and embraced the characters violence (Much like the Deadpool film intends to do) and though it got slightly better reviews (mixed to negative) it earned 10 million at the Box office on a budget of 35 Million.
Now lets talk character and plot.
We know Ryan Reynolds can be funny, but his witty on-liners did nothing to save the Green Lantern film. You can argue that that's because the story for GL was crap, but we haven't seen him do anything in the Deadpool trailer except be Van Wilder in a red suit. There is no hint of a plot and no sign of a character arc to explore. We see him start off as a funny guy dying of something terminal turning into a funny guy fighting "bad" guys.
Plus Deadpool on his own is meh. In the comics his most memorable moments come from him messing with other established big league heroes, none of whom will be seen this film because it's a Fox movie and not a Marvel film. We saw him take a punch from what looks like Colossus in the trailer, but who cares about Colossus? We might get a surprise and see other Xmen characters in the final film, but I highly doubt that.
In fact Deadpool went from having several books staring him to just one where his the title character and another where he shares the title with Wolverine. The rest of his appearances have him guest staring in other titles. It will also be interesting to see if the film adds the "forth wall breaking" stuff that Deadpool does a lot of in the comics.
I predict that the Deadpool film will be a decent flick that will pull favorable reviews but will fail at the box office.
Having said all of this, there is a part of me that really is hoping that this movie does do well.
Why?
Because I want to see a R rated Punisher film that has a decent budget. I want a Terminator movie that doesn't have a fucking PG-13 rating. I want studios to be able to reliably invest more into R rated movies knowing that there is a market for them, instead of watering every action film down to something they can sell to the kids because they think that's the only way that they can make money.
It is for this sake that I hope that the Deadpool film is much more than just the Merc with a Mouth and actually has some bite to all it's bar, like I said, there was no hint of this in the trailer but maybe the film is hiding it's aces.
I might go watch it, though I wouldn't break a date for it... what about you?
