Sunday, October 06, 2024

Links - 6th October 2024 (1 - MCU: Deadpool & Wolverine)

Deadpool & Wolverine Scoring Record $195M-$205M Box Office Opening

'Deadpool and Wolverine' breaks record with digital release - "Marvel's dark superhero comedy "Deadpool & Wolverine," which opened to a historic box-office performance in July, continues to break records following its theatrical release.  Just one day after the digital release of "Deadpool & Wolverine" on Tuesday, the Shawn Levy-directed film became the "best first-day seller" of 2024 for Fandango's streaming service Fandango at Home, the movie retail company announced in a press release... Upon its release in theaters, the film broke Fandango's record for most opening weekend ticket sales for an R-rated movie, surpassing 2015's "Fifty Shades of Grey," as well as the record for the best opening weekend ticket sales of 2024.  "Deadpool & Wolverine," which stars Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman as the title characters, earned $211 million at the domestic box office during its debut weekend, according to Disney, by far the largest opening ever for an R-rated movie. The record was previously held by the original "Deadpool," which debuted at $132.4 million in 2016... Worldwide, "Deadpool & Wolverine" grossed a whopping $1.3 billion during its theatrical run."

Meme - CosmicBookNews: "DEADPOOL AND WOLVERINE. Tomatometer 79%. MS. MARVEL. Tomatometer 98%"
Nick Hachey: "Review bombing is only a thing when the lowly pleb fans do it, when journos do it then it has to be the honest truth."

Meme - "DEI Superheroes"
"'The Marvels' Flops at International Box With $63 Million, Dramatically Behind 2019's 'Captain Marvel' 53% Tomatometer"
"White boys saving the universe"
"Weekend Preview: DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE Poised for Record-Shattering Opening Weekend 80% Tomatometer"

Ryan Reynolds DESTROYS Woke Culture After Deadpool Drama! Marvel PANICS - YouTube

Meme - "Come and see DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE we have People's Sexiest Men:
2008: Hugh Jackman
2010: Ryan Reynolds
2022: Chris Evans
2012: Channing Tatum
2005: Matthew McConaughey
2014: Chris Hemsworth
2020: Michael B. Jordan
2021: Paul Rudd"

Meme - "BRIE LARSON AND TATIANA MASLANY CAMEOS CUT BY RYAN REYNOLDS FROM DEADPOOL 3"
"'DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE' has passed $1 billion worldwide."

Meme - "BRIE LARSON AND TATIANA MASLANY CAMEOS CUT BY RYAN REYNOLDS FROM DEADPOOL 3"
J Jonah Jameson: "Ryan Reynolds is a hero"

Deadpool and Wolverine isn’t just a bad movie – Marvel is changing the definition of what a ‘movie’ is - "“Turn off your brain and enjoy it for what it is,” has become the prevailing mantra of the Deadpool defenders on social media. And of course, people are allowed to enjoy what they like. But freebasing cocaine is surely enjoyable to many people; that doesn’t mean we should all get on board with its production and distribution. If cinema starts losing the notion that it even ought to function as a work of art – if it becomes not just bad art, but some new and insidious other thing – then the jig, as it were, is truly up. If Deadpool & Wolverine is what the future of cinema looks like, it’ll take more than a few plucky heroes to save it."
I guess movies are like cake - more for one person means less for another

Meme - Boost @Boos2fer: "In 2014, Channing Tatum puts on a dumb fake accent, goes "My name Jeff" and the internet loses it's mind. In 2024, Channing Tatum puts on a dumb fake accent, goes "wooimbouttamakeanameformyselfere" and the internet loses it's mind. Latest and gentlemen. Meet, My Name Jeff 2."

Meme - The Cartoon Loon: "If Ryan was so concerned with getting out shined, do you really think he'd be in a movie with Hugh Jackman as fuking wolverine."
jude @ALIENBABESTAR: "the way I'm genuinely upset she wasn't in deadpool and wolverine like what reason is there other than ryan having too fragile of an ego to share the screen with a woman he knows is gonna outshine him WHO SAID THAT"

Meme - Laura/X-23: "You know my hymen heals as well after sex, so technically I'm still a virgin"
Wolverine: [ thinking ]
Wolverine: *smiles*"

Meme - Lance M Snead @HighHeelKnight: "Imagine if "Jake Skywalker" was handled similarly as "the worst Wolverine" was utilized. Oh the glory that could have been. #DeadpoolAndWolverine @Disney  @starwars  @Lucasfilm  #lukeskywalker @MarvelStudios  @deadpoolmovie  @Deadpool  @itsthewolverine  @MarkHamill  @RealHughJackman"
You wouldn't want to not subvert expectations of a good movie

Why Deadpool’s dance WORKS and She-Hulk’s SUCKS - YouTube - "There are five reasons that explain this and none of them have to do with Deadpool being a man and She-Hulk being a woman...
First reason. In the intro of Deadpool and Wolverine we hear Bye Bye Bye by NSYNC. This isn't just a catchy song that makes everybody want to dance along. It's also one of the most famous pop songs of all time... I saw Deadpool and Wolverine on opening day and half the people in the cinema were moving their shoulders when the song played because they knew it by heart... Marvel did something different in She-Hulk. In this scene we hear Body by Megan Thee Stallion which is this singer's most famous song. The problem is that Megan isn't anywhere near as famous as NSYNC. I haven't met a single person who watched She-Hulk and said oh yeah I know this song. It's one of my favorites... it gets worse. Megan's song is kind of terrible...
Second reason. The choreography of the two dance sequences is completely different. Deadpool does all kinds of well choreographed and perfectly executed moves because the person under the mask isn't Ryan Reynolds but a professional dancer. They needed someone who knew how to move really well because part of the choreography is a recreation of the original NSYNC video. Some moves like this one might seem simple but I invite you to try doing this at home and see if you get it right on the first try. It's not that easy... other parts of the dance are completely new... these central moves work almost like a parody because they're stripper moves, not male pop singer moves. Since it's Deadpool moving like that it's funny because it's unexpected and shows us that Wade isn't taking what's happening seriously... She-Hulk's moves aren't like that. Jennifer only does one move throughout the dance - shaking her butt. Nothing else... twerking is not seen as a high standard dance by most people. It doesn't matter if it's done by a man or a woman no one applauds someone for twerking because of their skill, because anyone can move like that as long as they don't have, hip problems. No one will ever win an Olympic medal for being able to shake their butt...
Third reason... we have to remember we're watching superhero movies, not musicals. Even though Deadpool and She-Hulk star in comedies there has to be a reason for the characters to start dancing no matter how ridiculous it is and the reason behind the two dances is different. Deadpool starts dancing because he doesn't take what's happening seriously. When the TVA agents order him to hand over his weapons Wade promises not to use them and instead attacks them with Wolverine's skeleton, because he knows he can kill them all without using his katanas and his guns... the song isn't just playing in the background. Deadpool uses his dance to break the fourth wall and interact with the credits like in this shot where he knocks down the producers' names with a little kick. He also attacks the agents to the rhythm of the song. When we hear out that door, Wade slaps an agent three times, coordinating the movement with the three words before the chorus. One part of the lyrics says just hit me with the truth and right when you hear the word hit, we see Deadpool hitting an agent on the head... Deadpool dances to make it clear that this is going to be a comedy, that he's going to make fun of everyone, that it's going to be a very violent movie...it's also telling us that this is going to be a nostalgic movie because Wade is doing a choreography from 20 years ago. She-Hulk starts dancing because she feels like it?! In this scene Megan Thee Stallion signs a contract for She-Hulk to be her lawyer from now on. There's a cut and then they're both dancing in her office just because. That doesn't make any sense. Someone might say She Hulk wanted to take the opportunity to dance with Megan to celebrate because she's a fan of the singer but fans of Shakira don't start twerking with her if they run into her on the street... if we go into deep film analysis mode we could say She Hulk starts twerking because she finally feels comfortable in her body and accepts that she's a Hulk... none of it is picked up in the following episodes. In fact in episode 7 Jennifer admits that she doesn't feel comfortable being She-Hulk...
Fourth reason. The timing of the two dances is different and that's super important. Deadpool's dance happens at the beginning of the movie and like I mentioned before the scene works to anticipate what's to come. It's unexpected because we've never seen Deadpool dancing before and no one expected the first scene of the movie to be a desecration of Logan with Wade literally dancing on Wolverine's remains... the scene works because it sets the tone of the movie and gives us an idea of what we're going to see next. That's exactly what an intro is supposed to do. She-hulk's dance happens in a post credits scene. Marvel has trained us to expect that post-credit scenes are important... it's normal for people to feel disappointed when they see Fiona shaking her butt because this doesn't hint at anything that's coming next. This post-credit scene doesn't work as a teaser for the next project, not even as a teaser for the next episode of She-Hulk. It's just a bad joke, not funny...
Fifth reason. For some the most important one. It's no secret that Deadpool is one of the most beloved superheroes of recent years and that very few people like She-Hulk. This is key because it's easier to laugh at a friend's joke than to laugh at a joke told by that jerk you can't stand...since She-Hulk starred in a terrible series and her character is written to make us dislike her, it makes sense that we'd raise an eyebrow when she tries to be funny. If you add that to the four previous reasons, it's logical that no one liked She-Hulk's dance"

Why Deadpool is FUNNY and She-Hulk is NOT - YouTube - "The first step to making a fictional character funny is to make them likable because no one likes laughing at the joke of a classmate they don't like. Deadpool does this by putting himself down before making fun of others. Just look at the opening credits of the first movie... first we laugh at Deadpool. Then we laugh with Deadpool... this happens again and again during Deadpool and Wolverine when Logan suggests that Wade might have ADHD and that's why he's unbearable, Wade responds that he's not sure if he has it, but he does know he has several diseases from his crazy sexual life that could have caused ADHD... Deadpool also makes fun of other characters. When they're in the void, he mocks Gambit's accent but only after he's made fun of himself. This doesn't happen in She-Hulk. Jennifer is confident from the start, thinks she knows everything. Says she has a perfect life, doesn't want advice from anyone and in the first episode of the show she yells at Bruce. She says she's better than him because she can control her transformations better than Hulk just because she's a woman and she lives a very stressful life. But she's talking to the wrong person. Are you seriously telling a guy who is physically and psychologically abused as a child that you have a tough life are you really saying that to someone with an identity to disorder who tried to commit suicide has been pursued by the Army and was exiled to another planet?... maybe Deadpool could say these same lines and make them work, if there was a punchline to these comments. If Jennifer had looked at the camera and said: hm, I think I overdid it. He had a pretty tough life too. The audience's perception would have been different. Jennifer might have seemed arrogant and tough when relating to others but she also would have been an empathetic girl who just had trouble expressing her true feelings... to be fair Jennifer goes through some character development. In episode 7 we see her vulnerable speaking poorly about herself and how her powers weigh on her. At that moment we can understand her and relate to her but this emotional speech comes too late. At 20 minutes per episode we have to wait more than 2 hours of the show for the character to start being a little bit likable.
Second reason. What set Deadpool apart from other superhero movies was its tone. It was an rated comedy filled with swearing, blood and constant mocking of the genre, something rare in 2016. The writers had no restrictions on what they could laugh at... they knew their target audience was 15 to 30 year olds, not children or adults over 60... their target audience would love Wade's jokes...  She Hulk feels unnecessarily respectful. Being a show not meant for adults no one expected She-Hulk to have explicit sex scenes or that all the jokes would be about dismemberment but it seems the writers were afraid to joke about certain topics. In the second episode Jennifer says being a superhero is for adult orphans, a direct punch to Batman, Spider-Man, Superman or, well, almost every Marvel and DC superhero. That was a good joke but that was it. There was no criticism of Disney, Marvel, DC, CGI, the exploitation of VFX workers or the supposed superhero movie fatigue. The only really edgy moment in the show is the dancing scene in the third episode...
Third reason... secondary characters matter. Deadpool is undoubtedly the funniest character in his own movies... but he's not the only one who makes jokes. The supporting characters are also funny... Dopinder and Blind Al's comments are also different from Deadpool's, cause the key to making a comedy work is using different types of humor... we see a similar dynamic in Deadpool and Wolverine between the two protagonists. Wolverine never tells jokes because he's moody all the time... in She-Hulk there are no funny supporting characters... those who tried to be funny were Wong and Abomination, but it's hard to include them as supporting characters, because there are entire episodes where they don't show up. This is a big problem because Jennifer is the only one who tries to be funny and if Jennifer's jokes don't make you laugh the whole series won't make you laugh at any point
Fourth reason. At the beginning of the video I said that one of the common threads between these two characters is their ability to break the fourth wall. On the surface they do it in a very similar way. They speak directly to the audience or give a wink or make a reference only fans will understand... the punch line comes from Wade who looks directly at the camera. He doesn't need to say anything the moment to be funny because breaking the fourth wall marks the joke... in the first episode Jennifer breaks the fourth wall while talking to Bruce... this isn't a joke. It barely serves as a comment and doesn't add anything to the scene. It's there to let us know that She-Hulk can break the fourth wall, something already shown in the series first scene... again and again in every episode Jennifer breaks the fourth wall, but in a completely unnecessary and uncreative way... I'm not saying fourth wall breaks never work in She-Hulk. In episode 2 Hulk says he's a completely different person than he was in 2008 and Jennifer laughs at the camera because Bruce Banner is now played by another actor. That was a good use of the fourth wall and something Deadpool would be proud of."

Can Deadpool and Wolverine SAVE Marvel? - YouTube - "If one good project were enough to save an entire Cinematic Universe then the MCU would have already been saved by Loki, Guardians, No Way Home or X-Men 97... the casual audience makes the difference between a 400 million movie like Quantanmania and a billion dollar movie like all of Holland's Spider-Man films...  it doesn't really matter if your cousin and your aunt go to see Deadpool and Wolverine if they disconnect from the MCU right after, which has been happening since Endgame... it's what they did during phase 3. People didn't just go to the theater to see Civil War since they liked Civil War. They later went to see Guardians 2, Thor Ragnarok and Black Panther because they were interested in the whole universe. That didn't happen after Endgame. Now people are picking standalone projects instead of being interested in the entire story...
Second thing they need to do. We're supposed to be in the Multiverse Saga but Marvel hasn't exploited the concept at all... they need to use the Multiverse concept to convince us that it was worth centering an entire saga around it... they need to explain how the Multiverse works...
Third thing they need to do. One of the biggest complaints from MCU fans in recent years is that they don't know where all of this is leading to"

Deadpool & Wolverine: Kevin Feige Reflects on the Current State of the MCU - "is Marvel veering away from the old phase structure? Should they do away with phases altogether?  Feige says, "Phasing out phases? No, I mean phases have always simply been the point in time in which the project's made, and this movie is very much, with Deadpool discussing the current state of the MCU, very much of its time of where we are in the phases. So I would say it's in there, but that's sort of besides the point when it comes to Deadpool & Wolverine." It’s interesting that Feige says that phases are about when a show or movie is being made, and perhaps that’s how they’re regarded at the studio these days. But that certainly wasn’t the case during the Infinity Saga, when the movies were clearly building to something with each successive installment. Regardless, as Feige alludes, Deadpool & Wolverine is a bit of an outlier when it comes to its palace within the larger Phase 5. The movie is surprisingly self-contained by Marvel’s usual standards. Sure, it builds on elements introduced in the Loki series and the general history of Fox’s X-Men universe, but it’s ultimately a standalone story about two aging heroes embarking on a wacky, redemptive road trip. Indeed, even Shawn Levy told IGN that Deadpool & Wolverine is not part of any phase that he was aware of."

Meme - "Kevin Fiege bringing back "white men" RDJ & Wolverine after years of failed movies with gay, black, female characters"
Green Goblin: "Back to formula?"
Keywords: Kevin Feige

DEADPOOL AND WOLVERINE Leaves Very Little Doubt About Wade Wilson's Sexual Orientation - "Deadpool was revealed to be pansexual - which is defined as being attracted to people of any gender or to people regardless of their gender - in the comics over a decade ago, but there's been some debate about whether his sexual orientation carried over to Ryan Reynolds' big-screen take on the character."
Weird how all the "bigots" don't hate it because of this. Almost as if what people want is actually good films

Deadpool’s obnoxious gay panic humour is a tiresome schoolyard taunt - "For an MCU that has, in its post-Avengers era, increased its focus on minority representation and inclusivity, Deadpool brings more to the table than the hetero-masculine Wolverine. Introduced into the Marvel comics stable in 1992, the character was conceived as openly pansexual. “[Deadpool’s] brain cells are in constant flux,” explained Fabien Nicieza, Deadpool’s co-creator, on Twitter back in 2015. “He can be gay one minute, hetero the next, etc. All are valid.” Citing neurodivergence to explain a character’s sexuality may not be radically progressive, but in the world of mainstream superheroism, queer fans will take what scraps they can get. Certainly few felt particularly seen by the first two Deadpool films, which retained the character’s pansexuality in theory – but largely as a recurring punchline. The character was given a steady girlfriend in Morena Baccarin’s Vanessa, who penetrates him with a dildo in a now-infamous scene from the first film: a cautious provocation, as if receiving anal sex from a woman is a sufficiently pansexual flourish for a mostly macho male superhero, and one played chiefly for aghast laughs from the audience. Any suggestion of non-heterosexual desire is limited to asides and innuendos: a male taxi driver that he’s sweet on in the first film, and an ongoing flirtation in the second film with steely X-Man Colossus. “Don’t fuck Colossus,” Vanessa implores her boyfriend at one point. Heaven forbid... Deadpool & Wolverine picks up the previous films’ blend of progressive lip service and tentative gay panic exactly where they left off, now with added self-referencing smarm. “Pegging isn’t new for me, friendo,” he says to an opponent wielding a particularly phallic weapon. “But it is for Disney.”... By now, any queer viewers seriously looking to see themselves in a Deadpool film are in strenuous denial... At this point, the next time Disney dredges up the character, it might be more progressive to draw less attention to his pansexuality. That, or simply let him fuck Wolverine."
Too bad the box office disagrees
Left wingers will never be satisfied

Deadpool and Wolverine: Can Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman save Marvel? - "It is the epitome of fan service. But willpower alone does not make a blockbuster capable of potentially reviving Marvel’s fortunes. That instead relies on authentic, cohesive storytelling."

Deadpool and Wolverine: Why do some people prefer antiheroes to superheroes? - "Deadpool knows he is a fictional character who exists for the pleasure of others, and constantly breaks the fourth wall to talk to readers and viewers. A 2019 study shows that this rapport gives us the same feelings of attachment and intimacy we would get with a personal relationship... To him, antiheroes like Deadpool are “heroes with all the interesting bits left in"  "The mess, the weirdness, the flaws," he says"

The Complicated X-Men (and Wolverine) Movie Timeline Explained

Is Deadpool 3’s Shawn Levy the Future of Populist Cinema? - "With Deadpool & Wolverine, Levy stands beneath a brighter-than-ever marquee as the first filmmaker to receive a writer-director-producer credit in Marvel cinematic history — a degree of autonomy not even Anthony and Joe Russo (behind an extraordinary run of most of the studio’s biggest blockbusters including Avengers: Endgame, Avengers: Infinity War, Captain America: The Winter Soldier, and Captain America: Civil War) were extended. “I never expected my Marvel directorial debut to be the most empowering creative experience of my career,” Levy says, seated in a suite in the Hotel Bel-Air just hours removed from finishing a final sound mix on Deadpool & Wolverine. While it’s hardly shocking to hear a director gush about his studio partners during a gigantic summer movie’s promotional cycle, such remarks ring more significant considering the studio in focus is Marvel — whose abandon-all-hope-ye-who-enter-here reputation for creatively curtailing the filmmakers it hires has become the stuff of Hollywood legend. “It is a Kevin Feige production, it’s his movie,” said Nia DaCosta, director of last year’s critical and commercial disaster The Marvels. “So I think you have to live in that reality, but I tried to go in with the knowledge that some of you is going to take a back seat.” Future Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins departed Thor: The Dark World in large part because of an entrenched studio strategy that she said would have trampled her decision-making. “I really like the people who work there, but they want full control over their movies,” she said in the French edition of Premiere. “The director is under control.” Speaking with Vulture, Avengers: Age of Ultron director Joss Whedon acknowledged an unspoken truth of the MCU: The maintenance of Marvel’s blockbuster pipeline always takes priority over playing nice with individual filmmakers. “With so much at stake, there is going to be friction,” Whedon said. “It’s the Marvel way to sort of question everything. Sometimes that’s amazing and sometimes” — here, he growled his compliment through gritted teeth to make a secondary meaning clear — “that’s amazing.”... Notably, Deadpool & Wolverine does not function as a chapter-like installment in the studio’s greater franchise. “Ryan and I told Kevin, ‘It’s not going to be a setup for another movie. It’s not going to stress itself about how it feeds into and connects to nine other movies. It’s going to be these characters. We’re going to respect canon but this movie is going to be its own thing,’” says Levy. “There was no arm wrestling. And we never felt pressure to have this movie service a greater vision. The MCU pressure was eliminated almost instantly by Kevin.”"

Henry Cavill was 'sick to his stomach' after his major Deadpool & Wolverine cameo - "“I remember hearing the next day that Henry was sick to his stomach because he had been inhaling cigar smoke for eight hours straight, but never once did he waver.”... Levy explained that Cavill agreed to the cameo for its subversive and playful nature, as well as the opportunity to humorously transition from his Superman persona to a Marvel character.  “Given that Deadpool is in constant conversation with culture, it felt like a great opportunity to first of all cast Henry Cavill in a part that he would kick ass at, but also to poke fun at that other comic-book-founded movie studio and play with some self-awareness there.”"

Can Deadpool & Wolverine make the MCU fun again? - "Rachel: I mean, the MCU is in the toilet, let's be completely honest…. I've never been the biggest MCU fan. I like it. It's fine. I'll go watch it and everything, but I kind of got a bit annoyed with them in the last five-some odd years because I just feel like they've been really disrespectful to their fans. They are putting out the most egregious nonsense out there, knowing that their fans are going to show up on opening weekend, and I think that their output has definitely reflected that attitude.  And so I've been very pleased to see that even the most loyal fans have started to be like, "We're done with this. This is just ridiculous." To get those people off of the Marvel bandwagon is impressive, because those guys were ride or die for Marvel for the longest time there. So I think maybe they've realized fans just aren't going to put up with their crap anymore, and they needed a reset...
Elamin: First of all, this is barely a movie. Most of what this movie is, is appearances from people you once used to know in different capacities. It's fun. If you get a chance to see Deadpool & Wolverine before you get the cameos and appearances spoiled for you, you should definitely do that.  But also, it is a movie that is trying to reckon with the fact that all of these IP wars have defined cinema for the last 20 years or so. Deadpool is a very effective vehicle to do that because he does break the fourth wall all the time. And so I don't think this is a movie; I think this is a thesis statement on what the MCU has done to cinema...
Rad: I certainly didn't have a great time like you did, sir. There isn't a story being told here. Whatever semblance of a story is being told here is Deadpool recruits Wolverine to save the universe, goes to the void in the multiverse — the trash bin of the multiverse where all the discarded characters go. And so this movie becomes this celebration of trash in a way that is, I think, fitting for Deadpool. I mean, you get trash needle drops — NSYNC's Bye Bye Bye...
Rachel: It's nonsense. But personally, I'm not that mad. I kind of feel like we don't need a story right now. Things aren't going well in the world, and maybe we just need to sit in a theatre and watch two very beloved actors and two very beloved characters just have fun and swear and do all the things that they do."

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