Merry Christmas, Deadpool?
The marketing of the
Deadpool movies has arguably been more fun than the actual films themselves. There have been
poop emoji billboards. There’s been the resurrection of
Blockbuster Video. He even has hung out with
David Beckham.
And it appears there is another stunt of some sort is planned.
Fox has confirmed the release dates for a few upcoming movies, including
Gambit, Dark Phoenix and
Alita: Battle Angel – and there’s something mysterious on the slate. Coming on December 21
st, in the US at least, is something called
Untitled Deadpool Movie.
What can it be? Have Ryan Reynolds and co filmed a secret third movie without anyone knowing? Will it be a Christmas special?
According to
Variety, insiders say it is "a PG-13 version of
Deadpool 2 with potentially new footage shot for its release". Why would you release a PG-13 version of the notoriously R-rated comedy? Well, it means all those kids who weren't older enough to go see it can now go and have a watered-down
'pool experience of their own, and Fox can make some extra money. A similar thing happened with Sacha Baron Cohen's
Bruno, which was rated 18 in the UK, but also had an edited cut released
a few weeks later that received a 15 certificate.
Ryan Reynolds has also tweeted this picture of Deadpool in a Christmas hat, reading a story to actor Fred Savage - it is a clear recreation of the framing sequence of
The Princess Bride, in which Savage played the boy being told the story by his grandfather.
https://twitter.com/VancityReynolds/status/1045750002994302978?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1045750002994302978&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fvariety.com%2F2018%2Ffilm%2Fnews%2Ffox-date-updates-untitled-deadpool-film-alita-dark-phoenix-gambit-1202961650%2F
That would suggest it is hopefully more than just
Deadpool 2-but-with-less-swears. We'll wait and see.