Because of the unparalleled success of the new hard-R Deadpool film, it wasn’t huge surprise that it had both Marvel and 20th Century Fox (the two studios behind it) rethinking their game plan for the coming years. With Hugh Jackman‘s final Wolverine film coming in March 2017, it’s possible that we could be seeing an R-rating for it rather than the typical PG-13 that has characterized most of the genre.
In the previous installment, director James Mangold and Jackman shot both versions of the film, which ended up with the R-version getting a showcase on the Blu-ray release. Now there is an easy chance that it could get the more adult rating because of how well Deadpool has been doing critically and financially (highest grossing opening weekend for an R-rated film, and highest grossing opening weekend for a director’s first feature).
The rumors about this intriguing possibility came from the Toy Fair in New York City, where this pamphlet was given out to attendees at the 20th Century Fox panel (from Comicbook.com). See it below:
There is no official announcement by Fox yet, but the above photo does definitely hint at what the studio may be planning on for the sequel. Also, since this will be Jackman’s last outing as the hero, it could a nice way to go out if the R-rating is approved. However, they may again just shoot both versions and then release the non-theatrical one for home entertainment.
The possibilities of an R-rated Wolverine film could go both ways. While the character is quite violent, he’s not as explicit as the smash-talking Deadpool. So, the big decision needs to be made as to whether we really need the film to have the adult rating or not. Besides violence and maybe a few F-bombs, it’s hard to think of the extremes that this series could go to comparatively.
The film should begin production sometime within the next few months because of its early spring release date next year. And so, while it’s unclear as of yet, it’s not at all unlikely that we could be getting a harder, more adult version of the final Wolverine film thanks to the glorious success of Deadpool this past weekend.
Wolverine 3 will be released March 3, 2017.
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