Evaluate how 'Deadpool' became a box office a box-office success and how a film's success is measured.

Success is measured in different ways. Mostly it is about how financially successful it is at the box office when it releases. Although some movies do not make much profit to begin with, over time they gather more popularity and can become cult classics.  Other ways in which a film can be deemed successful are longevity, being critically acclaimed and winning awards.

Deadpool, given its small budget and off the wall humour was never sure to make money, but in actuality it became massively successful earning $782,612,155 worldwide according to boxofficemojo.com which was roughly 14 times the movies budget. It also was critically successful having an 84% positive rating on rottentomatoes.com with critics enjoying its unique humour.

One of the main reasons this movie was successful was that the source material was already popular with the large comic book fan base, who wanted to see the movie before it was even out.

The movie had been in development since the early 2000s but kept being shelved as various studios didn’t have faith in the project. Over that time the audience for the movie grew as there became more Deadpool fans. It was only in 2014 where according to cinemablend.com, test footage of the movie was leaked onto the internet. This was popular with fans so the studio greenlit the project.

 Deadpool’s character had already appeared in the 2009 movie X-Men Origins: Wolverine also played by Ryan Reynolds. Reynolds played a different version of the character to what he did in the Deadpool movie. The version of Deadpool in that movie was unlike the original comic book character, taking away all the things the fans originally loved about the character leading to the film’s failure. When the new movie was eventually released fans were happy that it was the Deadpool they originally fell in love with in the comic book proving that being accurate to the source material pays off.

Superhero movies with high age ratings are often not successful as the core target audience of teenagers would not be able to legally see the movie. This led to speculation that like most other superhero movies it would be rated 12 in UK and pg-13 in the US although most fans didn’t want this as they wanted to see the vulgar language, violence and gore that Deadpool is typically known for in a movie. This opinion was also shared by the movie’s producer Lauren Schuler Donner according to cinemablend.com. The movie was finally given a 15 in the UK and an R rating in the US. Fans still went to see the movie proving that if done right they can make a successful superhero movie with a high age rating.

Extensive viral marketing was used to gain interest in the movie mostly poking fun at the different ways movies are promoted. Some examples are shown below:

               

 

 

This matches the humour used in the movie and gets interest from new people who may have enjoyed the trailers and posters so would check the movie out.

Deadpool was successful because it was unique and original giving audiences something they don’t often see instead of giving them the same old superhero movie that there are so many of. The movie is primarily a comedy so people who not fans of superhero movie still had something to enjoy. .  Deadpool’s meta- humour and breaking of the fourth wall allows the movie to poke fun at itself and be more relatable to the audience. This unique combination of factors ensured that Deadpool became a hit.