agenda investigates
The Deadpool Effect: will all comic-book flicks go R-rated?
If you believe what you read, a venereal-class R-rated rash has hit tentpole films. Wolverine 3 may well grant Logan more clawed penetration action. Batman V Superman: Dawn Of Justice will get an R-rated Ultimate Edition on disc, presumably involving more sensuality and Jena Malone’s unnamed character suffering something horrible. And if Marvel succumbs? Then Rocket Raccoon’s demands for ‘spare’ parts will, surely, screech off the leash.
Essentially, the story goes thus: Deadpool has dropped an F-bomb on movies, the effects of which will long continue to itch. Either despite or because of its R-rating, Tim Miller’s Ryan Reynolds-starrer owned the US boxoffice top slot until Zootropolis/ topia rolled in. $675m (at the time of writing) worth of global returns against a $58m budget isn’t just a good haul, it’s a challenge for others to match. So far, Miller and writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick’s Marvel adap is the third highestgrossing R-rated movie in the US ever, behind American Sniper and The Passion Of The Christ. Added up, those figures could keep tentpoles in a thigh-lock of saucy, self-aware, savagely violent irreverence until the boner gags droop.
Other comics adaptations – beyond the obvious big-hitters – flesh out the case for the R-for-ripple effect. Deadpool/X-Men producer Simon Kinberg has tentatively suggested X-Men spin-off X-Force might be R-rated. “I think there are some stories that could be R-rated,” Kinberg told Collider. “I don’t know what they are; I mean I think the mainline X-Men movies have their own tone, which is a more operatic tone. It’s more dramatic, it is more PG-13 in a way. X-Force I could see being R-rated, and who knows?”
The producer of Death Note, to be directed by Adam Wingard, sounds equally confident about the Manga adaptation’s grown-up pitch. “It’s definitely for adults,” said Roy Lee. “[ There’s] zero chance it will be below an R-rating.”
If these films are the result of Deadpool’s game-changing effect, it isn’t hard to see why it has happened. True, there have been R-rated superhero movies before. Matthew Vaughn’s adaptation of Mark Millar’s Kick-Ass could not have been less. And in case anyone thinks Dawn
‘Deadpool’s haul is a challenge for others to match’
Of Justice’s DVD/BD certification boost is Deadpool’s doing, remember Zack Snyder’s Watchmen was “Rated R for strong graphic violence, sexuality, nudity and language.” So maybe we’ll see Batman being ‘sensual’ to oddly placed Leonard Cohen songs. Joy.
Yet none of these films, or sundry Blades/ Punishers, matched Deadpool’s success. Nor did any emerge in the same super-saturated superhero market, most entries in which operate on the belief that PG-13/12A is where the target audience lies. Add the two points together and you get something like this: if studios want the comic-book cash cow to keep lactating (clue: they do), variations on the theme will be needed. R-rated upgrades could do the trick.
Swearing in
Enter James Gunn, Guardians Of The Galaxy director. Writing on Facebook, Gunn dished out strong words to industry news portal Deadline, who quoted an unnamed studio exec on the gap between Deadpool and the MCU. “The film [Deadpool] has a self-deprecating tone that’s riotous,” said the exec. “It’s never been done before. It’s poking fun at Marvel. That label takes itself so seriously, can you imagine them making fun of themselves in a movie? They’d rather stab themselves.”
Rightly, Gunn countered that Marvel’s mix of superheroes and sardonic self-mockery runs deep in Ant-Man, Iron Man and his MCU entry. And he made a crucial point: “For the theatrical experience to survive, spectacle films need to expand their definition of what they can be... They can’t just be copying what came before them.”
Sounds obvious, perhaps, but recent movie history tells us how quick studios are to forget the risks of succumbing to a “something effect” for the sake of trying to repeat a lightning strike. Consider the stygian serial-killer movies that followed Se7en, or the volume of self-aware slasher films following Scream, or the number of creatives who couldn’t survive an interview without using the word “grounded” after The Dark Knight. The trend for “expanded universes” might be a case of The Marvel Effect: we’ll see how that pans out for Warners/DC, Ghostbusters and Star Wars. (Probably very well in the latter case, at least, but still.)
In this frame, some “suits” have distanced themselves from Deadpool’s influence. “We don’t have any plans to make R-rated Marvel movies,” Disney CEO Bob Iger said, relieving audiences of any fear that the Avengers movies might start resembling embarrassing fan-fic. As for Suicide Squad, arguably the DC pic most likely to go R, DCU producer Charles Roven spoke: “I think right now we’re going for the PG-13. I don’t know that that’s going to materially change. We can give that movie the edge that it needs and still maintain a PG-13.”
The fact that these conversations are live proves Deadpool has had an effect. But if its ‘effect’ does not catch on, it might not be a bad thing. Fan forums raged when – random example – Terminator films emerged without an R-rating, but lots went wonky with the last two T- films that had nothing to do with certification. And not all properties suit the R-rating: Spider-Man doesn’t need bulletholes in his butt any time soon.
By contrast, Deadpool was a perfect storm of integrated ingredients. It wasn’t just a saucy superhero movie but the hybrid result of a star-led fan-galvanising campaign, the chance to fix a previous on-screen cock-up ( X-Men Origins: Wolverine), leaked test footage, a lengthy writing process (PG-13 and R-rated scripts) and a cleverly handled last-minute $7m budget cut (the writers responded by condensing three characters into Angel Dust). Factor in the result’s fourth-wall-busting humour, charismatic leads, romantic streak, open sexuality, tight pacing, rapid gag count and close match with the source material, and you’ve got something that isn’t easily repeated. Sure, studios may try. But Deadpool’s main lesson might be this: you can’t put a price tag on a one-off. KH