A [MARKET.] FOR DEADPOOL?

I have been waiting for the Deadpool movie ever since X-Men Origins: Wolverine was released and the rumor mill started that Ryan Reynolds was going to be attached. Now, we finally have a release date on February 12th, 2016 and the director Tim Miller is still attached. Now, there are still some open questions lingering regarding the upcoming film, as Reynolds has not signed a contract, some say that they will still attach the original draft that was written for the film, but it is still a question if it will be PG-13 or R-rated. Naturally the character is rather known for being a hard R, which would be fitting for the character, but it is more a question on how big the audience is suppose to be fort he film. This entire conflict is the reason you are reading this article at the moment, as I ask the questions: Is there really a market for Deadpool?

To examine this aspect, it would be nice to note that this questions is quite dependent on what final decision 20th Century Fox makes on what the rating they chose. One has to point out that PG-13 and R are distinguished between how much violence, sex and cursing are used in a film. I will point out that it is just a simple description of what the differences are, but PG-13 on its own right has become quite violent, so that the use of massive amounts of blood lead to the R rating. Well, with an R-rating only an audience above the age of 18 can be reached, so the film would try to bank on a more crud humor in the combination with the violence. The issue lies that R-rated action films have been facing trouble recently, as Dredd for example was not able to make its money back even if it created a very strong fanbase. So, executives at Fox would be rather worried that the film would not be able to sell and reach an audience. Even if it develops a fanbase their main goal is to have a return on investment.

A NEW DIRECTION FOR [SHIELD.]

With the arrival of September we will be heading into a frenzy of new fall programming on all local networks. In those shows, we have around six shows that are inspired by comic books. While Arrow and Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. are returning for a second season, we will also have the pleasure of viewing the Arrow spin-off show The Flash, a series titled Gotham focusing on the city and villains before Batman came into existence, the master of the dark arts Constantine and lastly a show focused on Agent Carter from the Captain America franchise. While I am currently still trying to catch up in the Arrow franchise, I do enjoy Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. and also am very looking forward to what direction the second season will take.

I understand there was quite a negative backlash towards the show in the first season and to some degree I understand where it came from. Expectation were skyrocketing as everyone found out that there was going to be a TV show with characters from the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Adding to the hype, we were going to see the revival of everyone’s favorite agent Phil Coulson. One could see that the show did market itself as showing regular people in the world of Iron Man, Thor and Captain America yet we never felt a true impact of those films without a few special crossovers, where the one focusing on Thor only glanced at the events of the movie. Still, most of the show was truly building up to the fall of SHIELD, which made one questions if there truly was a necessity for the show to even exist. With the ending showing us that the show will rebuild SHIELD from scratch. With whatever they are building too, here is my list of things I am hoping for in season 2.

TO [MARKET.] AN ANT-MAN

With the recent success of Guardians of the Galaxy, one must wonder what this could mean for Marvel Studio’s next big gamble, Ant-Man. While one would assume that Marvel Studio as a brand has evolved to prove enough boost for any film franchise they will release, there is still a level of uncertainty due to character. How do you sell or market Ant-Man? The original Ant-Man, Hank Pym invented a particle, which allows him to change his size at will, and a helmet that allows him to communicate with ants. Not only will a few people be questioning the effectiveness of such a character when his future teammates consist of a super soldier, the strongest there is, a god and a man in a heavily armored suit, but how will this character work on screen? Due to Honey, I Shrunk The Kids hit theaters we can believe that a person can change size and be effectively displayed on screen, but how will it work for a superhero? In a strange way, Marvel Studios and Edgar Wright already proved that it was possible due to a test footage released not too long ago, as he stated he was waiting for technology to reach this exact point.