Deadpool 3 has been in the works for a few years now, and today Canadian filmmaker Shawn Levy, best known for his Night at the Museum series and sci-fi films starring Reynolds, Free Guy, and The Adam Project, has come on board, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
Rhett Reese and Paul Wernicke, who wrote the screenplays for the first two, are also returning for the third film. The film will bring Reynolds back as the intelligent, katana-wielding Wade Wilson, who is mutilated after a boy is promised an experimental treatment for his cancer.
Healing also gave him near-impermeability, superhuman strength, and healing abilities. Deadpool 3 will be the first film in the franchise after Disney acquired most of the Fox properties, including Marvel IPs such as the Fantastic Four and X-Men.
The state of Deadpool 3’s development has been somewhat unclear, with fans becoming even more nervous about its future after Ryan Reynolds announced an acting hiatus. While cryptic updates about the much-anticipated film have been released sporadically, the project has taken a huge step forward by tapping Shawn Levy to direct.
Reynolds looks like he couldn’t be happier about hiring Levi as the director of Deadpool 3, and his reaction to the news is pretty sweet and hilarious. Most people know that Ryan Reynolds has a very specific sense of humor, and that was certainly applied to his recent celebration post.
The star confirmed the news of Shawn Levy joining the Marvel franchise on his Instagram and did so by tying all his collaborations together. You can check out the post below, which features all of Reynolds’ characters from the films directed by Levy. And also check out the witty captions he added:
According to Collider, over two decades, Levy has directed films such as Cheap by the Dozen, The Pink Panther, The Night of the Museum trilogy, Free Guy, and The Adam Project. He has produced and directed episodes of current classic television series such as Stranger Things.
While Levy is best known for his family-friendly films, Stranger Things and Free Guy demonstrate that the filmmaker has a keen awareness of the tone required for production.
It’s amazing to see how close Reynolds and Levy have come during their last two projects. That bodes well for Deadpool 3, and now that the widely anticipated sequel has a director, we can expect to hear more about the anticipated film soon.
Franchise so far
The Deadpool movies are the highest-grossing X-Men films of all time, with each grossing over US$780 million worldwide. The first two films, which debuted in 2016 and 2018, respectively, were released by 20th Century Fox before Disney acquired that studio.
Around that time, there were fears that Disney would try to maintain its family-friendly image, a far cry from the raucous world of Deadpool. However, Bob Iger, then-president and CEO of Disney, eased those concerns in 2019, saying that Disney would continue to make R-rated Deadpool movies and other adult-oriented Marvel stories.
“We’ll continue in that business,” Iger promised, “there’s popularity with those kinds of movies.” However, he indicated that these films would not be released under the traditional Marvel or Disney banner and that the company would try to ensure that it was “carefully branded (R-rated films)so we’re not in any way confusing the consumer.”
No matter where the story goes, fans have every reason to be excited about the third installment of the franchise. Even though the Deadpool movies are primarily thought of as comedies, they are largely underestimated as superhero movies outright.
Thanks to the R-rating, the action doesn’t get its due for how well-choreographed it should be, and the subject matter in those movies is surprisingly deeper than in most Marvel movies.
The reason they don’t get this kind of attention is that people look at them to crack up on the jokes. Make no mistake, the two Deadpool movies are excellent superhero movies, and there’s no reason to think the third one won’t be the same!
Published By: Apoorva Wakodikar
Edited By: Subbuthai Padma
