‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ Underscores MCU’s Much-Needed Evolution
After the studio’s sudden dominance of the 2024 box office, Disney is about to dig its claws in even further.
Hitting theaters Friday, “Deadpool & Wolverine” is expected to collect at least $160 million to $170 million domestically in its opening weekend, or up to $200 million if word of mouth travels quickly enough.
Such an opening would not only top June’s $155 million debut for Pixar’s “Inside Out 2,” which just overtook “Frozen 2” as Disney’s most successful animated film to date at nearly $1.5 billion worldwide, but set a record for R-rated openings altogether.
That would be the second such milestone for a “Deadpool” film. Turnout this strong for “Deadpool & Wolverine” could also destroy doubts over the viability of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Disney’s over-reliance on franchise fare in recent years, following multiple pricey tentpoles that underperformed in 2023.
However, treating “Deadpool” as wholly representative of the MCU would ignore why it stands out in the first place.
“Deadpool & Wolverine” is Disney’s first R-rated foray at the $200 million production mark, as well as the first R-rated MCU production for either Disney or Sony. Within the last decade, the only R-rated films to come from Marvel at all were the two prior “Deadpool” entries and 2017’s “Logan” at 20th Century Fox.
It would have always been risky to downgrade the new film’s subject matter to PG-13 levels; after all, Disney CEO Bob Iger was open to keeping its R rating back when the acquisition of Fox’s assets was in the works.
Likewise, the Disney-Fox deal already reintroduced R-rated fare after Disney shuttered its Touchstone label in response to ending its deal with DreamWorks in 2015. Anyone who saw 2022’s “Barbarian,” Oscar winner “Poor Things” or this year’s “The First Omen” can attest that highly graphic films do exist in Disney’s theatrical ecosystem.
But after the billion-dollar success of Warner Bros.’ DC film “Joker” in 2019, it was obvious Disney would have to whip out Marvel’s obvious R-rated equivalent again.
Disney was ultimately smart not to rush “Deadpool & Wolverine” — or any theatrical iteration of “X-Men” — once it gained control of the IP, a move undoubtedly influenced by underwhelming performances for inherited post-acquisition films “Dark Phoenix” and “The New Mutants” in the “X-Men” franchise, the latter of which was a pandemic victim in 2020.
As a result, six years passed between “Deadpool 2” and its follow-up, allowing more time for star Ryan Reynolds and his creative team to flesh out ideas for the sequel and add an additional voice in writer, director and now frequent Reynolds collaborator Shawn Levy. “Free Guy,” Levy’s last theatrical outing, starred Reynolds and was a modest hit for Disney in 2021.
As “Inside Out 2” just proved, time ought to be the secret sauce for Disney tentpoles going forward, a lesson that should have already been evident with “Avatar: The Way of Water.” While not as long as the decade-plus that passed between “Avatar” films, “Inside Out 2” released nine years after the first one, an example of Pixar’s extensively planned production processes that stem from the sheer resources needed to animate these films from scratch and make them look their best.
The record-breaking release of “Inside Out 2” has largely defeated doubts over Pixar’s future after “Toy Story” prequel “Lightyear” failed to launch in 2022 and new IP “Elemental” took a while to find its audience last year.
To be fair, the latter did end up earning more than twice as much as “Lightyear” globally, topping out close to $500 million, an outcome that helped break families’ Disney+ dependency films like “Soul,” “Luca” and “Turning Red” contributed to when they skipped theaters to debut on the platform.
By contrast, the MCU has suffered heavily from workplace complaints across its various full-time and contracted VFX teams, culminating in the former’s decision to unionize last year. After “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” underperformed earlier in 2023, Disney fired Marvel VFX and post-production head Victoria Alonso, though the company cited a breach of contract for her role in producing an Amazon film as the cause.
However, Marvel’s TV strategy was later overhauled to focus on prioritizing shows that could potentially run for multiple and longer seasons, as opposed to the string of short miniseries that comprised its initial strategy. Revived from its Netflix run, a new “Daredevil” series, which had already begun shooting before the strikes and is now slated for 2025, will kick off the new effort, as its head writers and directors were replaced.
Not long after that TV shake-up, “The Marvels” hit theaters and instantly became the worst-grossing film of MCU history, heightening the need for changes at Marvel. What could have simply been a direct sequel to 2019’s highly successful “Captain Marvel” was instead expanded to continue the story arcs of characters introduced in Disney+ series “WandaVision” and “Ms. Marvel,” an example of how awry the MCU’s dependence on interconnected storylines had grown in the wake of its “Avengers” mashups.
“Deadpool & Wolverine” may foster some MCU continuity, but its barrier to entry is nothing more than having basic familiarity with the titular “X-Men” characters. Likewise, Disney’s strike-related decision to push several upcoming MCU debuts and a “Captain America” sequel to 2025 makes the new “Deadpool” the lone Marvel film on its 2024 slate — one that’s been in demand for quite some time.
If the enduring popularity of Amazon series “The Boys” is any indication, the appetite for satirical — and bloody — superhero fare is as strong as ever.
Hitting theaters Friday, “Deadpool & Wolverine” is expected to collect at least $160 million to $170 million domestically in its opening weekend, or up to $200 million if word of mouth travels quickly enough.
Such an opening would not only top June’s $155 million debut for Pixar’s “Inside Out 2,” which just overtook “Frozen 2” as Disney’s most successful animated film to date at nearly $1.5 billion worldwide, but set a record for R-rated openings altogether.
That would be the second such milestone for a “Deadpool” film. Turnout this strong for “Deadpool & Wolverine” could also destroy doubts over the viability of the Marvel Cinematic Universe and Disney’s over-reliance on franchise fare in recent years, following multiple pricey tentpoles that underperformed in 2023.
However, treating “Deadpool” as wholly representative of the MCU would ignore why it stands out in the first place.
“Deadpool & Wolverine” is Disney’s first R-rated foray at the $200 million production mark, as well as the first R-rated MCU production for either Disney or Sony. Within the last decade, the only R-rated films to come from Marvel at all were the two prior “Deadpool” entries and 2017’s “Logan” at 20th Century Fox.
It would have always been risky to downgrade the new film’s subject matter to PG-13 levels; after all, Disney CEO Bob Iger was open to keeping its R rating back when the acquisition of Fox’s assets was in the works.
Likewise, the Disney-Fox deal already reintroduced R-rated fare after Disney shuttered its Touchstone label in response to ending its deal with DreamWorks in 2015. Anyone who saw 2022’s “Barbarian,” Oscar winner “Poor Things” or this year’s “The First Omen” can attest that highly graphic films do exist in Disney’s theatrical ecosystem.
But after the billion-dollar success of Warner Bros.’ DC film “Joker” in 2019, it was obvious Disney would have to whip out Marvel’s obvious R-rated equivalent again.
Disney was ultimately smart not to rush “Deadpool & Wolverine” — or any theatrical iteration of “X-Men” — once it gained control of the IP, a move undoubtedly influenced by underwhelming performances for inherited post-acquisition films “Dark Phoenix” and “The New Mutants” in the “X-Men” franchise, the latter of which was a pandemic victim in 2020.
As a result, six years passed between “Deadpool 2” and its follow-up, allowing more time for star Ryan Reynolds and his creative team to flesh out ideas for the sequel and add an additional voice in writer, director and now frequent Reynolds collaborator Shawn Levy. “Free Guy,” Levy’s last theatrical outing, starred Reynolds and was a modest hit for Disney in 2021.
As “Inside Out 2” just proved, time ought to be the secret sauce for Disney tentpoles going forward, a lesson that should have already been evident with “Avatar: The Way of Water.” While not as long as the decade-plus that passed between “Avatar” films, “Inside Out 2” released nine years after the first one, an example of Pixar’s extensively planned production processes that stem from the sheer resources needed to animate these films from scratch and make them look their best.
The record-breaking release of “Inside Out 2” has largely defeated doubts over Pixar’s future after “Toy Story” prequel “Lightyear” failed to launch in 2022 and new IP “Elemental” took a while to find its audience last year.
To be fair, the latter did end up earning more than twice as much as “Lightyear” globally, topping out close to $500 million, an outcome that helped break families’ Disney+ dependency films like “Soul,” “Luca” and “Turning Red” contributed to when they skipped theaters to debut on the platform.
By contrast, the MCU has suffered heavily from workplace complaints across its various full-time and contracted VFX teams, culminating in the former’s decision to unionize last year. After “Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania” underperformed earlier in 2023, Disney fired Marvel VFX and post-production head Victoria Alonso, though the company cited a breach of contract for her role in producing an Amazon film as the cause.
However, Marvel’s TV strategy was later overhauled to focus on prioritizing shows that could potentially run for multiple and longer seasons, as opposed to the string of short miniseries that comprised its initial strategy. Revived from its Netflix run, a new “Daredevil” series, which had already begun shooting before the strikes and is now slated for 2025, will kick off the new effort, as its head writers and directors were replaced.
Not long after that TV shake-up, “The Marvels” hit theaters and instantly became the worst-grossing film of MCU history, heightening the need for changes at Marvel. What could have simply been a direct sequel to 2019’s highly successful “Captain Marvel” was instead expanded to continue the story arcs of characters introduced in Disney+ series “WandaVision” and “Ms. Marvel,” an example of how awry the MCU’s dependence on interconnected storylines had grown in the wake of its “Avengers” mashups.
“Deadpool & Wolverine” may foster some MCU continuity, but its barrier to entry is nothing more than having basic familiarity with the titular “X-Men” characters. Likewise, Disney’s strike-related decision to push several upcoming MCU debuts and a “Captain America” sequel to 2025 makes the new “Deadpool” the lone Marvel film on its 2024 slate — one that’s been in demand for quite some time.
If the enduring popularity of Amazon series “The Boys” is any indication, the appetite for satirical — and bloody — superhero fare is as strong as ever.