Significant buzz surrounds the release of Deadpool 2. The sequel might be one of the more anticipated of Fox’s superhero films. Yes, Fox/20th Century Fox does have a new X-Men film debuting in theaters later this year. The X-Men franchise, however, seems to be running out of steam somewhat. Deadpool, a mutant character loosely related to the X-Men universe, may prove to be Fox’s biggest new hero franchise of the coming decade. The studio clearly has faith in the future adventures of the “Merc with a Mouth” as the sequel will be grander in scope than the original.
Rob Liefeld, Deadpool’s creator, noted the new film is akin to Aliens. That is, the second film becomes a much bigger than the first entry in the series. “Bigger” can be defined as a larger budget and a great deal more action.
Ironically, the first Deadpool movie’s budget was cut due to legitimate concerns over how much the feature could earn at the box office. The Ryan Reynold’s vehicle was the product of an extensive fan campaign. Readers of the comic books featuring Deadpool kept lobbying for the humorous anti-hero to get his own movie. Since Fox already owned the rights, making the film simply involved giving the project a green light.
The studio, however, chose to release the feature in February with a relatively low budget by superhero movie standards. The film was made with an R-rating as well. The idea here seemed to make some money back on the global box office and then generate home entertainment and cable revenue to earn the budget expenses back.
Amazingly, Deadpool turned out to be a massive hit and launched a new surprise franchise for the studio. Fox definitely needed a new franchise since the Fantastic Four reboot destroyed all future entries in that series.
The days of Deadpool suffering from budget limitations have ended. The new entry shows Fox wants to “go large” with this sequel and subsequent ones. No real risk comes with upping the budget. Deadpool 2 is a surefire hit.
