Deadpool 2 Will Keep The Small Scale Of The First Film

Despite the astounding success of Deadpool, it hasn’t exactly been smooth sailing so far for the upcoming sequel, Deadpool 2. After losing director Tim Miller, followed by composer Junkie XL, it looked as if the film was in a spot of trouble. Thankfully, it’s now recovered as John Wick co-director David Leitch has been roped in to helm the highly anticipated flick, with plans to start shooting in early 2017.

With Miller now gone though, fans have begun to worry about the sequel ditching what made the original so great, that being its small scale and focus on humor and characterization. Yes, Deadpool had some absolutely fantastic action sequences and visual effects, but they certainly weren’t placed above all else as they often are in other comic book movies. That’s part of why Miller’s effort worked so well though, and according to producer Simon Kinberg, Deadpool 2 will follow a similar path.

“The goal for us when we sat down and started talking about it was it needs to be as provocative and startling as the first film which means it can’t just be a continuation of the first film. It has tonally and stylistically be as fresh and original. That’s a big challenge especially because they had 10 years to gestate on the first movie and we don’t have that kind of time on the second movie. That’s the biggest mandate going into on the second film: to not make it bigger. We have to resist the temptation to make it bigger in scale and scope, which is normally what you do when you have a surprise hit movie. But actually stay true to the tenets of it’s the tone and the style and the humor that make it so special — it’s not the explosions and the special effects.”

From what we understand, Deadpool 2 has a far bigger budget than the original did, as the first one was made for only $58 million or so. Reports have pegged the sequel’s price tag at closer to $125-$150 million, but that remains unconfirmed. Either way, we do know that the producers will have more money to play around with it but if we’re to believe Kinberg, it doesn’t sound like they’ll be spending it on more “explosions and special effects.”

Further in the interview, the producer touched on hiring Leitch and revealed why he feels like he’s the right man for the job:

“Everybody was just a fan of his work. He’s just a guy who’s so muscular with his action. He also really understands those Deadpool sensibilities and where we need to take the franchise from here. And I love John Wick. One of the things that David Leitch does that very few filmmakers can do these days is they can make a movie on an ultra tight minimal budget look like it was shot for 10-15 times what it cost.”

Last we heard, Deadpool 2 is aiming for a March 2018 release, so it’s still a ways away. However, that hasn’t stopped the studio from putting plans in place for a third outing for the Merc with a Mouth, as they’ve already announced that they’d like to introduce the X-Force in the threequel. Whether that comes to fruition or not remains to be seen, as right now, all eyes are on Leitch’s upcoming flick to see if it can live up to the incredibly high bar set by its predecessor.

Tell us, do you think Deadpool 2 will be as successful as the first one? Sound off in the usual place and let us know!