September 18, 2014

Fans Rejoice, Fox's X-MEN Spin-Off DEADPOOL Officially Coming February 2016!


THR has news that 20th Century Fox has finally greenlit the long in-development Deadpool spin-off. The film set in the X-Men universe has been trying to get pushed into production for years. Problems stemmed from it's R-rating, and a completed script leaked online a while back. The character doesn't really lend itself to a PG-13 rating, as his signature is hyper-violent and filthy mouth. Since then, screenwriters Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese (Zombieland, G.I. Joe: Retaliation) did a bunch of rewrites to the existing script. Fox has officially given the spin-off a release date of February 12th, 2016.

Director Tim Miller's test footage featuring Ryan Reynolds leaked online not too long ago. It's sort of fun, but also a bit average. Perhaps, being all digital might be the main problem people like myself have with it. Ryan played the mercenary's alter-ego Wade Wilson in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, and has been loosely attached throughout the entire development. It looks like Ryan is set in the role, and it's ready to go.

Lauren Shuler Donner is set as producer, as she heads-up all the films in the X-Men franchise. The producer has been vocal about trying to make the film with a smaller budget, to keep it's R-rating intact. It's February release could mean that Fox has agreed to this, as the winter months have been known as the dropping season for smaller studio R-rated genre flicks. X-Men: Apocalypse is said to begin shooting this April in Montreal, with a release date only months after Deadpool in May. The impression this gives me is that Deadpool is ready to go into production soon, or it will have less post-production and will be a smaller film.

I'm not sure how much of connection this film will have with the rest of the X-Men universe, considering Deadpool understands he's in a comic book and breaks the fourth-wall all the time. He'll likely end-up directly talking to the audience and making high-volume pop culture references. Two things we really haven't seen in other X-Men films. One of the weirder comic book characters in Marvel's lineup, it'll make for an unique movie.

At a point it was unknown if Fox would actually pursue the film. As five other Marvel projects have come into light since X-Men: Days of Future Past was announced. Another main X-Men film with Apocalypse, sequels to James Mangold's successful The Wolverine and Josh Trank's unreleased Fantastic Four. Other projects without release dates but are in development include Jeff Wadlow's X-Force and another spin-off focusing on Gambit (possibly played by Channing Tatum). This will be the first time Fox will release two X-Men films in one year, so it'll be interesting to see if this becomes a regular thing. As Marvel Studios has proven the demand is clearly there for these comic book movies, and the market can handle two major releases from a studio.




SOURCE: THR

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