The fate of Comic Book adaptations (Good Deadpool)

Given the smash hit that was Deadpool, there has been a lot of talk about what will happen to movies and tv series that are adapted off of comic books, as well as the material that could be adapted. Deadpool's hard R rating, but also the faithfulness and effort that was actually put into making the movie well compared to previous mature adaptations like Dredd and Punisher. It's destroyed records on so many counts, and in a lot of people's opinions (including mine), quite deserving so.

Now, what this has brought up discussion of is how adaptations will change from here.

People are asking for more adaptations that have a hard R rating to adapt some of the darker storylines in comic books, but there is a problem if they do try to adapt some of these in my opinion, which I believe sends Hollywood into a very interesting dilemma.

So, Deadpool's hard R rating let it pull no punches with it's storyline, violence or humour. However, it was still at heart a lighthearted comedy. There wasn't anything overly serious about the story that was presented, it was an origin story, just told in an unconventional way. However, there are calls by fans to make an adaptation of storylines like The Killing Joke, dark stories that have psychological element. Deadpool's success was attributed to its comedic marketing campaign that even people who weren't wait for the movie because they knew how Fox screwed up in Wolverine: Origins were hyped for the movie's unique sense of humour. Something like the Killing Joke, while an amazing storyline (I haven't read it myself, but it's considered one of the best), the audience would be quite niche, people who know of the original material.

However, the ability to make comic book movies darker does make for some interesting opportunities. Some characters could have stand-alone movies that wouldn't have been possible in the current PG-13 (M) rated Comic adaptation market that is saturated right now. Darker characters could have their stories told in a way that wouldn't have done them justice. However, I feel another interesting issue of this topic comes from the tv series that people point to about how they tell darker, more psychological stories like Gotham, Daredevil and Jessica Jones. I feel like the reaso that they work in tv format is because it can slowly dip people into a more and more psychological world, while something like a movie, you need a true master director to pull off a truly psychological movie like Fight Club or Sixth Sense (I apologize, I haven't seen either, but I'm pretty sure they are), and they don't create something like Lucy or Birdman (Personal opinion, tried but failed).

So, what do you guys think on the topic. Do you think there is merit to comic book series moving toward some R rated adaptations, or do you think that Deadpool is the exception and turning to R rated adaptations will not yield as much reward as expected. I've appeared to have a negative stance, but I honestly think that in the right case, like the possibility of the next Wolverine being R, would be intriguing. I'm just cynical.

 

Okay, so here is something to add about this topic. The much (un)anticipated movie Batman v Superman (I'll just go watch the trailer again, that'll give me the whole movie plot (sorry, bringing personal opinion into something)) has just been announced to have a special edition that is going to have an R rating for Home video release only.

Now, this is what I worried about in the wake of Deadpool, R for the sake of R. Now, I would have no problem with movies in the Marvel and DC cinematic universe to have an R rating. The DCU is expressing itself as quite dark and honestly, if Suicide Squad isn't given an R rating, I actually won't be as hyped as I originally. The MCU's original audience who have watched from the start have grown up enough to be able to watch an R rating (it's 17 in America, right? I apologize but the Aussie rating system is different so forgive me if I'm wrong on that).

What bothers me is that I feel like BvS DoJ is going to become R for the sake of R in the special edition release. What kind of additional content that is crucial to the cinematic universe do they have to add that would push up the rating to R that they couldn't just ramp up the rating and mean that the people watching at the cinemas who can't watch the R rating would completely miss out. Probably nothing if they decided to leave it out. LotR is justified for their extended editions leaving out crucial plot points for being FOUR HOURS LONG, but I want to compare it to another movie called Ghost. While I haven't watched it, my mum has, and she mentioned that after the famous pottery scene, there was originally meant to be a sex scene that would've pushed the rating up. However, they decided that the sex scene was eluded to enough in the prior scene and to keep the lower rating and to actually not ruin the point of the inuendos throughout that scene, so it wasn't that crucial to the story. This is what I worry about with BvS DoJ, that the additions won't be crucial whatsoever to the story and will just be R for the sake of R.

Also, I realised if you squint really hard, BvS DoJ looks like BS Doge... so I'm just going to call it BS Doge.