If there’s one thing moviegoers can count on when seeing Deadpool next year, it’s that it won’t be like most superhero movies. Not only is it one of the few to earn an R rating, but its smart-mouthed, fourth wall-breaking protagonist isn’t nearly as heroic as the characters usually leading these costumed adventures. However, there’s one other thing that separates Deadpool from the rest of the crowd: its moderately sized budget.
Although 20th Century Fox hasn’t officially stated how much it cost to make Deadpool, Ryan Reynolds informed GQ that the 2016 blockbuster’s budget is smaller than what most superhero movies are given, which the actor found refreshing. Reynolds said:
Deadpool was different because there wasn’t a big budget attached to it. There was not a tremendous responsibility to meet some kind of bottom line. Those kinds of superhero movies when you’re out front, there’s a vast and quite frightening budget attached to them. This one had a super-reasonable budget, and it was subversive and a little bit different, and to me a little refreshing in the comic-book world. But you always have trepidation. When you’re out front, you have trepidation.
While there will be action aplenty in Deadpool, the trailers show the movie is filled more with practical stunts rather than lots of visual effects. The only examples of major CGI seen so far are Deadpool’s expressive mask and Colossus in his steel form. There’s still a couple months left for the post-production team to add more, but it’s clear that Deadpool won’t be nearly as CGI heavy as something like Avengers: Age of Ultron, which will almost certainly help it make a tidy profit.
Following Reynolds’ appearance as Wade Wilson in X-Men Origins: Wolverine, 20th Fox announced that a Deadpool movie was in the works, but it stayed in development hell for years. It was only after animated Deadpool test footage was leaked online and they heard the positive feedback from fans that the studio decided to finally move forward with the project. Obviously Fox wasn’t willing to pour as much money into it as X-Men: Apocalypse, but should Deadpool perform well, maybe they’ll throw in a little more green for the potential sequel.
No doubt Deadpool’s February release date will also give it an edge since that’s a month where big blockbusters are rarely ever released. If it had come out during the summer months, when competitors like Captain America: Civil War or Suicide Squad were coming out, it might not make nearly as much money, but in a month that offers few compelling offerings at the theater, it gets to both kick off the 2016 superhero movie slate and should dominate the box office.
Deadpool will hit theaters on February 12, 2016.
