Opinion: The lesson Hollywood should learn

By: James Neyer ~Staff Writer~

“Deadpool” is NOW one of the top grossing R-rated movies of all times. Everyone is praising its success, with many believing that future R-rated superhero movies will follow suit. One individual who has displayed concern about this is James Gunn, the director of “Guardians of the Galaxy.”

After a Deadline Hollywood article quoted a Hollywood “suit,” Gunn responded on his Facebook page. According to the “suit,” one of the main reasons for “Deadpool’s” success was because “the film has a self-deprecating tone that’s riotous. It’s never been done before.”

Gunn commented that this reasoning was complete bull. In his Facebook post, Gunn noted how other Marvel films, such as “Guardians” and “Ant-Man,” did the same thing. Instead, what made “Deadpool” fantastic was its originality and the love put in by the filmmakers, as they were free to take risks.

But it is a lot easier to copy a movie’s formula than it is to take risks by granting the filmmakers tons of creative freedom. There are going to be more R-rated comic book movies. The studio is airing the next Wolverine movie to be rated R and to be be based on the “Old Man Logan” story-line. Time will tell if this movie will fail as the previous Wolverine standalone movies, or succeed.

1With the release of Ryan Reynold’s movie “Green Lantern,” we saw the failure of following a formula. With “Iron Man” being such a huge success, Warner Bros tried to force Hal Jordan into being a playboy character, something which was inaccurate to the spirit of the comics.

“For the theatrical experience to survive, spectacle films need to expand their definition of what they can be. They need to be unique and true voices of the filmmakers behind them.They can’t just be copying what came before them,” Gunn said on Facebook.

Sequels, reboots and formulaic copies have become all too common. Movies should try and stray away from the typical formula and instead capture an original spirit. Because the world really does not need another generic Fantastic Four reboot. For this reason, let us hope that more “Deadpoolesque” comic book movies are created.