Many fans’ prayers were answered last Friday when 20th Century Fox not only announced that the long gestating Deadpool film was coming but that they had given it a release date. Now, Schmoes Know brings word on something that might make the fans of the Merc with a mouth a little disappointed – the film’s rating.
“I heard from the director (Tim Miller) that they finally figured out the script, and it was right before this was announced, that they figured out, and you guys are all going to hate this, that they figured out how to make it PG-13 and therefore not lose its soul – that’s a quote – of the script so they can make it.”
Should this prove true, it’s understandable why Fox would be unwilling to make a “hard R” Deadpool film given the track record of R-rated superhero movies. 2009’s Watchmen is the highest-grossing R-rated superhero movie with just $107 million at the domestic box office. A number of other mid-level films fall in just under that – Blade brought in $70 million, Constantine hit $75 million, and Blade II gathered $82 million, but there a few of the R-rated superhero movies that land even lower on the scale such as Dredd with $13 million and Punisher: War Zone with just $8 million.
Ryan Reynolds is expected to return as Wade Wilson for the upcoming film which has director Tim Miller at the helm and a script by Zombieland writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick. Deadpool is currently set for release on February 12, 2016.
UPDATE: Screenwriter Rhett Reese has posted the following saying that they won’t know the rating for a long time:
Hey, guys, no one knows yet whether Dpool will be R or PG-13. There may not be an announcement for a long while. Hang in!
— Rhett Reese (@RhettReese) September 22, 2014
