How “Logan” And “Deadpool” Tell The World Is Ready To Handle R-Rated Superhero Movie
"Logan" is enjoying all the glory a critically acclaimed and blockbuster hit will gain. Interestingly, the flick did not sugar coat any of the violence or dark themes to achieve this goal.
As per Deadline, "Logan" earned a massive $237.8 million globally during its opening weekend. The James Mangold directorial opened at No. 1 position in 80 of 81 markets.
Another example is "Deadpool" where the movie simply celebrated the R-rating. Even with violence, witty but profanity clad dialogues, and sexual innuendos, "Deadpool" earned a massive $760 million.
According to Variety, both the films made no effort to tone down the respective R-rated theme to become successful. Interestingly, Fox produced both movies.
Fox has the acquired the rights to X-Men characters like Wolverine and Deadpool recently. It seems like the studio wants to make a mark for itself by producing grittier and tougher comic book movies, unlike Disney's brighter "Avengers" series.
"It's all about continuing to move the genre forward and be more malleable," Variety quoted Jeff Bock, an analyst with Exhibitor Relations. . "You can't pitch the same PG-13 movies over and over or they will become stale."
Chris Aronson, Fox's domestic distribution chief, agreed that its time for more R-rated X-men movies. According to him, Fox has found a clear direction and clearly, audiences are responding to it.
While "Deadpool" and sequel "Deadpool 2" decided to base on dark comedy and raunchy humor, "Logan" was dark and serious drama. But both shared elements that lead them to R-ratings.
In an interview with Variety's Kristopher Tapley, director and co-writer of "Logan" James Mangold gave examples of Donald Trump winning the presidential election. According to Mangold, Trump turned conventional wisdom upside down and captured the White House. Thus, the entertainment business should also scour out ways to better reflect the chaotic current political climate.
Needless to say, R-rating is not the ultimate formula. An R-rated movie also needs a tight plot, interesting storyline and commendable performance to make it big.
However, Fox did pull a smart move by constricting its audience. Several box office analysts think that other studios should take points from this idea. Maybe Warner Bros. can try and release both PG-13 and R-rated versions of the Batman movie series and see what happens.
Subscribe to Latin Post!
Sign up for our free newsletter for the Latest coverage!
* This is a contributed article and this content does not necessarily represent the views of latinpost.com