Are R-rated Superhero Movies *Really* the Future? Let's Do the Math

[CBR News]

Based on the success of "Deadpool" and recent announcements, Alex Zalben examines whether R-ratings are the future of superhero movies.


Full article here.

[Phil Clark]

I feel like no, R rated Superhero movies are not a trend, nor the future. Some very specific characters/stories could benefit from not having to aim for a PG13 rating, but those stories have to achieve an R rating organically. It must grow out of the needs of the story, not because someone said "Make [character] say '****' a dozen times so we get an R rating" or "let's add tons of gratuitous blood and severed appendages" or "let's give [character] and [character] a nude/sex scene".

That will kill a movie real quick.

[Don C]

Deadpool isn't a hit because it's rated R. It's a hit because it's a good movie. Is this really such a difficult concept for the media to grasp?

[CaptainBuzzkill]

I believe the author here is trying to be incendiary and, somewhat, condescending. There are very few comic book characters who would merit a second look if they were put into an R rated movie. We've already had Blade and Deadpool. The bloodiest Wolverine and Lobo stories might deserve it as well. So there's no reason to think that Hollywood is going to release an avalanche of these films. Limited subject matter dictates that.

Go contemplate world peace and stop running around waving your arms over R rated comic book movies

[BertoFlyingFox]

People suggested it's the future based on two movies and an unreleased director's cut....thats one hell of a stretch. Deadpool was just a good film that stuck to the R-rated nature of the character, I felt Judge Dredd did the same just not to the same degree.

If the character calls for the higher rating, it deserves to be told that way. Doesnt mean I need to see Captain America punching humans into meat paste though.

[Doctor Know]

Are R-Rated movies the future? No. But they were the past.

Watchmen
300
V For Vendetta
Blade Trilogy
3 unrelated Punisher films
Tank Girl

[WeaponX]

Lets be real here guys Wolverine 3 was going to be rated R before Deadpool. In fact each Wolverine solo has fought for a R rating. Unrated directors cuts have also well predated Deadpool. The Wolverine being just one of may examples.

[Midvillian1322]

Not the future of superhero movies but they should be a larger slice of the pie then they currently are.

[Doctor Know]

Not the future of superhero movies but they should be a larger slice of the pie then they currently are.

We have Netflix Marvel for that.
Daredevil, Jessica Jones, and future Luke Cage and Iron Fist. Although, I'm not too keen about the Heroes for Hire being in an R-Rated production.

[jimishim12]

Yep. Deadpool rewrote the new standards of today for edgy entertainment, and now once were mostly innocent and wholesome films about goody two shows smiling heroes is now going to be Deadpoolesqe/Kick Assesqe in being cool and explicitly bold in it's content, more sex, language, and tons of violence and drama. It started with Games of Thrones, it's gonna end with franchises like even the Power Rangers going this route, minus the darker.

[kumagawa]

Deadpool still tops the list on return on investment.

[MichaelC]

The common sense interpretation is that some comic properties are best done R, some are PG-13, and some, like say Squirrel Girl, should even be rated G. That's common sense. So naturally movie execs are going to push for all rated R all the time because they're convinced that it's the next big trend.

[InspectorFowler]

I think it's two things -

As some have mentioned, it's inherent to the character of Deadpool to do and say stuff that earns an R-rating. So if he's going to be in a movie, it's going to be R or it won't be Deadpool. Since they made a movie that seems to reflect Deadpool really, really well, people have responded. Fans seems happy and people who didn't know about the character get exposed to what those fans have liked all along. That's the secret to any good superhero movie.

Second, I think it's also important to the overall health of comic-to-movie stuff that there be a broad diversity of options. Marvel seems to be killing it right now. You've got your huge multi-character blockbusters that draw in a big spectrum. You've got your smaller character movies like Ant-man, and the group version of that in Guardians. You've got Netflix for "adult" material (not in the sense that it has nudity and tons of swearing, but in that the Netflix shows address issues like religious guilt, rape, free will, etc), which also serves as long-form story telling. Now you have Deadpool, which is a small character movie but serving up a very different kind of humor. Meanwhile, the comics can continue to tell their own stories for existing fans or people who might be drawn in after the movies. I'm a low-level comic fan, but after movies like Deadpool, I have people at work coming up to me saying they excitedly bought some collected editions of Deadpool. These are folks who wouldn't have set foot in a comic book shop before just because they didn't know comics had anything they might like.

I think there is danger in doing this - over-saturating the market can be very real. But the tone and feeling of say, Winter Soldier is pretty different from Ant-man. Deadpool (I do realize Deadpool is a different studio) definitely isn't Avengers. Marvel has been doing a good job with this, and while it might wear off eventually, since X-men there has been a steady increase in both quantity and quality of comic book movies.

So R-ratings won't help if they're offered up on a platter like, "SEE BOOBS AND SWEARS" but they absolutely have a place in a portfolio of content that is intended to have fans in all ages, genders, races, etc.

[jimishim12]

I think it's two things -

As some have mentioned, it's inherent to the character of Deadpool to do and say stuff that earns an R-rating. So if he's going to be in a movie, it's going to be R or it won't be Deadpool. Since they made a movie that seems to reflect Deadpool really, really well, people have responded. Fans seems happy and people who didn't know about the character get exposed to what those fans have liked all along. That's the secret to any good superhero movie.

Second, I think it's also important to the overall health of comic-to-movie stuff that there be a broad diversity of options. Marvel seems to be killing it right now. You've got your huge multi-character blockbusters that draw in a big spectrum. You've got your smaller character movies like Ant-man, and the group version of that in Guardians. You've got Netflix for "adult" material (not in the sense that it has nudity and tons of swearing, but in that the Netflix shows address issues like religious guilt, rape, free will, etc), which also serves as long-form story telling. Now you have Deadpool, which is a small character movie but serving up a very different kind of humor. Meanwhile, the comics can continue to tell their own stories for existing fans or people who might be drawn in after the movies. I'm a low-level comic fan, but after movies like Deadpool, I have people at work coming up to me saying they excitedly bought some collected editions of Deadpool. These are folks who wouldn't have set foot in a comic book shop before just because they didn't know comics had anything they might like.

I think there is danger in doing this - over-saturating the market can be very real. But the tone and feeling of say, Winter Soldier is pretty different from Ant-man. Deadpool (I do realize Deadpool is a different studio) definitely isn't Avengers. Marvel has been doing a good job with this, and while it might wear off eventually, since X-men there has been a steady increase in both quantity and quality of comic book movies.

So R-ratings won't help if they're offered up on a platter like, "SEE BOOBS AND SWEARS" but they absolutely have a place in a portfolio of content that is intended to have fans in all ages, genders, races, etc.

I think thats objective, seeing profanity and sexual content doesn't mean it is intended to be exclusive to a certain niche of ages, genders, and such. Deadpool was as pop corny as it comes, and the r rated stuff you'd see no more effective as a offensive concept as the Kick Ass movies and some James Bond flicks. DP didn't even get that nasty compared to some of the movies I seen with Quentin Tarrintino.

[ComicBookMan]

Pretty ridiculous article. The ratings really have nothing to do with the quality of the movie. X-Men Origins Wolverine could have been rated anything and it would still be a piece of crap. Same for X3 and so on. Deadpool was done right and is a good movie. Full stop.

The movie was true to the character and a lot of the source material. I was totally impressed with Colossus as well - for the first time he was actually done properly. Marvel Studios gets it right more often than not because they respect the source material and employ talented people. Fox and Sony jerk around the source material and history and then also put together a poor story and product more often than not.

It really blows me away when some people think the rating will improve the success of the movie.