In 2016, 20th Century Fox took a gamble on a spinoff to their film universe of Marvel’s “X-Men” characters by allowing a project spearheaded by actor Ryan Reynolds to push through. The result, “Deadpool”, was a runaway smash hit that singlehandedly revitalized the Fox “X-Men” films against the MCU movies of Marvel Studios which featured almost every other character of note in the source comic books. A sequel was immediately green-lighted, set to premiere later this month. It promises to be just like the original but more, although recent corporate developments have spurred Reynolds to take precautions with “Deadpool 2”.
As Entertainment Weekly tells it, there was a certain bit that was cut out of the script for “Deadpool 2”, co-written by Ryan Reynolds, Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick. While previous trailer have been rather shameless with all the references uttered by the main character Deadpool due to his nature of being aware that he is a character in a story, there was one line that 20th Century Fox did not want him to cross in dialogue. While a cheeky line about Warner and DC’s film universe was fine, another Deadpool quip referencing Disney was mandated by Fox be cut.
Reynolds notes that the Disney joke removal was a sore spot. “I’m probably not even allowed to say this — Fox made me take it out,” he says. “It had more to do with Disney, and they made me take it out. As I look back at it, I think maybe that was a wise decision.” This is in reference of course to the ongoing negotiations between Disney and the Fox studio’s parent company, 21st Century Fox, which would see the acquisition of some of the media giant’s production assets, including the 20th Century Fox film studio, which produces “X-Men” films.
It has been considered a Holy Grail of sorts, for Marvel Entertainment and its parent company Disney to reunite the film rights of its various comic book characters. Fox has built up, and then rebooted, its “X-Men” movie universe, making profits split between them and Marvel. When the latter finally started up its own film studios for superhero films, the relationship became competitive, doubly so when Disney acquired Marvel. The Fox acquisition would revert the “X-Men” film rights back to its origins, though some “X-Men” fans balk at mixing their “mature” heroes with the “family-friendly” MCU, especially the R-Rated “Deadpool”.
With regards to what might happen to the films if the Disney-Fox deal is completed, Reynolds has no idea. He does however believe that Disney, despite its G-rated image, will still have a place for “Deadpool” and similar films in its large filmmaking umbrella, perhaps with their mature film labels.
“Deadpool 2” from Fox arrives in theaters on May 18.
Photo courtesy of ign.com
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