Deadpool And The Rise In Popularity Of R-Rated Superhero Movies

     Today I am going to talk briefly about Deadpool and a few other essential movies to the rise in popularity of R-rated comic book movies.  In February 2016, Deadpool took the world by storm presenting a new type of CBM, or Comic Book Movie, with it's crude humor and ultra-violence.  It was something that really hadn't had this level of success before, and had broke several records including, highest selling R-rated movie of all time.  Now how did we get from a movie like that under-performing or being released direct-to-video?  We will briefly look at the history of R-rated CBMs.

     It started in 1989 with Dolph Lundgren's Punisher which was the first R-rated superhero movie.  It was released direct-to-video and became a cult classic.  Next came Blade which was the first well received.  It was released into theaters in 1999.  Blade 2 was also pretty well received but in no way was either Blade a money maker.  In 2009, DC Comics got in the R-rated superhero game with Watchmen, directed by 300 director Zack Snyder who eventually went on to direct blockbusters Man of Steel and Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice for DC.  Unfortunately, Watchmen under performed at the box office leaving DC to delay their R-rated animated movie Batman: The Killing Joke for seven years.  Then in 2013 Kingsman: The Secret Service was released and did fairly well at the box office, but was not enough to blow away records.

     So what was it that caused Deadpool to do so well I am not sure if it was the popularity of the character, the interesting trailers, or the fact that it was so well marketed.  We may never know, but it blew away enough records to get a sequel greenlit almost as soon as the movie was released.  Also Wolverine 3 which is part of the X-Men universe as well as Deadpool will be rated R.  Look for Wolverine 3 in theaters 2017 and look for Deadpool 2 in theaters in the next few years.  Thanks for reading!