Garrett’s Grumblings – Will Deadpool’s Success Make It A ‘Trend?’
No matter how you feel about Deadpool -and if you heard this week’s Binge Cast you know exactly how I feel- there is no arguing that the success of Ryan Reynolds’ starring comic book film means a brand new awakening for the future of comic book filmmaking. The perseverance Reynolds displayed in getting Deadpool made has to be commended, and there will come a time in the next decade or so, much like we currently do with 2008’s Iron Man, that we will point to February of 2016 as the month ‘it all changed.’ There is no question that the box office results of Deadpool make for a hell of a success story. Reynolds fell on his ass so many times for the twelve plus years he took in getting it made, that I am not going to put him down for finally succeeding in his goals. That is a story which cannot be written if you tried, and I have all the respect in the world for him.
But it didn’t take long for its wave of success to cause word of Wolverine 3, supposedly the very final time Hugh Jackman dawns the iron fisted claws, now specifically aiming for an R rating. Fans of the character can be heard jumping for joy every which way you go. And this site’s very own Jackie Boy recently posted a well written article about comic book adaptations he would like to see slapped an R rating as well. Look. It’s great to be a ground breaker, and I think I have been fair enough in my praise of Deadpool‘s ability to be as much. Even if PLENTY of successful R rated comic book adaptions have been released in the years leading up to this one.
Interestingly, that leads right into my topic of this article. I decided to do some major digging, and research just what films in years past started trends, and how said trends keep going through the distillation machine that Hollywood is so very well known as having.
5) Space Movies
Yes, there had been Star Trek, Battlestar Galactica, and 2001: A Space Odyssey to fill our hearts and heads with enough space imagery to last a lifetime. But it wasn’t until George Lucas’s 1977 space opera Star Wars was released to massive success that they started becoming a Hollywood trend. Legend has it the sole reason for Ridley Scott’s Alien being greenlit was because it was the only other space script in 20th Century Fox’s offices at the time. But that wasn’t the only movie trying to capitalize on a trend. Enter The Black Hole, Enemy Mine, Solarbabies, Dune. And my favorite, James Bond’s very own Moonraker.
All of these were met with varying degrees of artistic and box office success, and the Hollywood machine keeps cranking them out to this day. Where’s a Bill Pullman motivational speech when we need one?
4) ‘Found Footage’ Films
Now, it can be argued that 1999’s The Blair Witch Project was the first film to put this genre in the widest of stratospheres (no, The Last Broadcast does NOT count), and there had been sporadic ‘found footage’ movies like 2007’s Rec beforehand. But 2009’s Paranormal Activity created what can only be described as a phenomenon. To put its success in perspective, there have been 397 found footage movies released since Paranormal Activity was released six years ago, and only 113 released before then.
Hatred is generally spewed at these films. Every once in awhile, a Cloverfield comes along to knock us on our asses. But for every Cloverfield, there are four or five Apollo 18s.
3) Gladiator Movies
Airplane captain Captain Oveur must have been living on cloud nine in the 2000s. After Ridley Scott’s Gladiator won five Academy Awards, earning over $450 million in the process, we saw more and more ‘sword and sandal epics’ hit the circuit with no abandon to spare. Movies like Kingdom of Heaven, Pathfinder, 300, and Scott’s own telling of Robin Hood came and went with barely a whimper. The only one I REALLY enjoyed from this time was Wolfgang Peterson’s 2004 Brad Pitt starring epic Troy. And even that was released to mixed reviews. Despite this, Troy would go on to make close to $500 million.
2) Die Hard on a (blank)
Anyone who grew up on the late 80s – early 90s remembers this trend. In fact, if you count recent films like Olympus Has Fallen, the trend is still going strong. After the Bruce Willis starring Die Hard was released to propulsive box office thunder in 1988, studios found another formula to mix into their money making medicine. Before long, Speed wasn’t Speed. It was ‘Die Hard on a Bus.’ Under Siege wasn’t Under Siege. It was ‘Die Hard on a Ship. Awakenings wasn’t just Awakenings. Ok, that one stuck.
There is no question about it. Die Hard remains one of the most influential films -not just ‘action’ films- ever made. With the perfect mix of violence and salty one liners, John McClane stepped into movie immortality. Yippee Kii Yayy is right.
1) 3D Movies
Ahhh, hello Avatar. One thing about Deadpool‘s success that seems to be getting overlooked in all the shock & awe over its opening weekend take, is how the movie took the film going public by storm –without the advent of its audience having to put on a pair of dirty recycled 3D glasses. This can only be a good thing, as the 3D experience has very rarely been anything of the sort, and is just an added incentive by studios to get audiences out of their houses and into theaters. Let me make clear: I see nothing wrong with that. But the problem is that 3D, with the exception of the aforementioned Avatar, adds absolutely nothing to the experience.
Immediately following Avatar‘s massive success, movies like Alice In Wonderland, 2010’s Clash of the Titans, almost the entire Marvel Universe, etc etc jumped on the bandwagon. Hell, even The Force Awakens didn’t turn down the opportunity to capitalize on the trend. Despite all of this, I have a feeling that if James Cameron doesn’t get off his ass and put Avatar 2 on the release board within the next couple years, executives are going to look mighty close at that little non 3D factor in Deadpool‘s success.
Let me reiterate here. I, in no way, feel these or any of the other trends in movie history are necessarily bad. I also understand that all of the examples I have mentioned above had examples of such before them. But there was always one which stuck out head and shoulders above the rest, planting itself in cinematic history. And Deadpool is one of those films. But I think James Gunn beautifully outlined the dangers of the lessons learned from the surprise $150 million take of Deadpool in its opening weekend. Wolverine 3 would already seem to be the trickle effect Gunn was talking about. And yes, as long as there are angry teenage boys, there will always be an audience for an ultra violent yuk-fest like Deadpool. But the danger of watering down your product to the point of obscurity hovers like a black cloud. A character like Superman does NOT warrant slapping an R rating on his movie just…because. Even when movies like Alien vs Predator and Terminator Salvation were getting PG-13 ratings, the incentives that drove so-called ‘outcries’ over the movies before they were even released never bothered me. A movie is never good based on its rating. Its rating is an organic off shoot of the film itself. With this in mind, I wish all filmmakers luck with the new current trend. Let’s hope it’s Die Hard by nature of lasting ability.