It’s stating the obvious to say that Deadpool can’t be used to anywhere near his full potential unless he’s given an R-rating, which is why fans breathed such a heavy sigh of relief when Kevin Feige confirmed that the Merc with a Mouth’s Marvel Cinematic Universe debut would retain the same adult-orientated tone as its predecessors, although it’ll be the only one of the franchise’s upcoming projects to be given such treatment.
Despite knocking the first movie from its perch as the highest-grossing R-rated film in history after it hauled in $785 million at the box office, Fox still tried to wring a little more cash out of the sequel by refitting it as the holiday-themed and PG-13 Once Upon a Deadpool. It was a decent idea in theory, but the execution fell flat and it felt like nothing more than a transparent cash grab until Ryan Reynolds got involved.
Indeed, Once Upon a Deadpool failed to justify its own existence, despite Reynolds only agreeing to make a PG-13 effort starring Wade Wilson if the money went to charity, with $1 from every ticket sold going to the F*ck Cancer campaign, in fitting style. However, insider Daniel Richtman now claims that Disney are considering doing the same thing again with the third installment, and they’re discussing making both a PG-13 and R-rated version of the movie in post-production.
“Disney is now thinking of doing what has been done with DP2, making both an R version and a PG-13 version of Deadpool 3,” he says.
The Mouse House already have Hulu and the Disney Plus STAR expansion to cater to the older crowd, so there’s really no reason for an alternate PG-13 cut of Deadpool 3 to even exist. It wouldn’t increase or harm the movie’s box office potential one iota, and if anything, the fans would see right through it should it end up becoming a reality. Indeed, as things stand, it feels like it would just be a waste of time and effort on the studio’s part to scale back the very things that make the character so popular for no discernible reason or benefit.
