‘Deadpool and Wolverine’ Rocks CinemaCon With 9-Minute Clip Featuring Hugh Jackman’s Debut and Jokes About Cocaine and Strippers
Ryan Reynolds’ potty-mouthed superhero Deadpool made a Las Vegas convention hall blush on Thursday, unveiling nine minutes of vulgar and hilarious footage from the upcoming sequel “Deadpool and Wolverine” at CinemaCon.
Stacked with meta jokes about Disney’s Marvel Studios finally making an R-rated film – and just how unprepared the company’s executives are for this kind of release – the annual gathering of global movie theater owners ate up all the raunch. They also cheered for the briefest look at Hugh Jackman’s return as Wolverine, the X-Men character he’s played on and off for years.
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“Suck it Fox, I’m going to Disneyland. Get fucked,” Reynolds said in the character during the sizzle reel. He alludes to the former 20th Century Fox studio which made the first two “Deadpool” films, which later became Disney’s when they acquired the 20th Century assets in 2019.
There were also references to cocaine use (“The only thing Feige said was off limits!” Deadpool said in the footage, which often breaks the fourth wall) and a security force mistaken for exotic dancers at a surprise birthday party for Reynolds (“I’m not new to pegging,” Deadpool tells a group of goons wielding batons, “but Disney is. And this isn’t ‘Pretty Woman.’ We’re kissing”).
The new film finds Deadpool (aka Wade Wilson) down and out and working at a used car lot after a pledge to never engage in his former superhero profession. He gets by with a ragtag team of old colleagues and friends, including a resurrected Rob Delaney, love interest Morena Baccarin, Brianna Hildebrand and the phenomenal Leslie Uggams.
He’s pulled back into the game by Mr. Paradox (“Succession” star Matthew Macfadyen), an agent of the Time Variance Authority, who feels Deadpool is ready to live up to his potential and take his place in the hall of great Marvel heroes.
Initially put into development in 2018, the film finally went into production in May 2023 in the United Kingdom. Soon after, was shuttered four months due to the SAG-AFTRA strike forcing a release date change from May 3 to July 26 this year.
The first film in the “Deadpool” franchise followed the anti-hero seeking revenge against Ajax (Ed Skrein), the man who turned him into a mutant. The second film saw Deadpool organize a team to thwart time-traveling soldier Cable (Josh Brolin) Both “Deadpool” films enjoyed robust box office success.
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