“Deadpool” box-office success annihilates “R” rating record

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Claire Bentley, Editor-in-Chief

Most Valentine’s Day weekends are an excuse for lovey-dovey greeting cards, batches of red roses, couples invading museums, movie theaters to see romantic comedies, and evenings spent in dimly-lit restaurants. But on Friday, Feb. 12th, the highly anticipated R-rated superhero Marvel movie, “Deadpool,” was released in theaters. Fans grouped together to see the foul-mouthed, mentally-ill antihero Deadpool, aka Wade Wilson, played by Ryan Reynolds. Whether it was the unabashed inappropriate humor, or the countless times that Deadpool broke the fourth wall and mouthed off to the audience, the movie was highly entertaining.

According to Forbes Magazine, the movie raked in $132.7 million in its opening weekend while only having a $58 million dollar production budget. It made more money than any other R-rated superhero film, and surpassed the R-rated film opening weekend record which was previously held by the movie 2015 erotic film “Fifty Shades of Grey.”

In an interview from movie review website ScreenRant, Rhett Reese, who co-wrote the screenplay with Paul Wernick, voiced that while they originally wrote the script as an R movie, they were concerned that there was,“….a ceiling on how well you can do financially when it’s rated R, because there’s a certain bulk of the audience who just can’t go and won’t pay to go.”

The writers rewrote the script as a PG-13 movie, but in the end, the R-rated version came out as the best and most honest, and to most audiences who viewed it, they seemed to agree. In an age where superhero movies have taken a much darker, more violent tone, “Deadpool” was a movie that retained plenty of humor, but also a ruthless amount of violent action scenes (Spoiler Alert: Watch out for a decapitated head).

“It was good. It didn’t seem like just a superhero movie. They didn’t hold back,” said Peter McCauley, ‘16.

The Avengers movies may be entertaining and all, but let’s be real – if you’re a superhero fighting off a murderous aliens, do you really think you wouldn’t be swearing to lands end?  “Deadpool” is a reminder that not all superheroes are good citizens — they’re real people, just trying to do what they do, or in Wade Wilson’s situation, seeking revenge over the evil Mutant guy who ruined his life, made him ugly, and then kidnapped his girlfriend.  Deadpool assures the audience that he isn’t trying to have morals.

“Deadpool” has already been green-lit for a sequel. It had plenty of unexpected crude humor, but the writers were conscientious enough to stay away from misogynistic comments, gay jokes, and racist quips. If you like action, humor and good writing, “Deadpool” is the movie to spend your money on.