Has Deadpool changed the X-Men movies forever?

In its opening weekend, Deadpool has essentially already paid for itself many times over. It has made $132 million in that time. That is much more than Man of Steel (DC) made and more than X3 made. The budget for this film was a paltry $58 million. By movie standards (superhero movies at that), this is a tiny budget. It is, in just three days, a bigger success than many, many other films. Basically, it has changed the meaning of the word “profit” as it has changed the X-Men movies forever.

The character Deadpool was in an X-Men movie (X-Men Origins: Wolverine). With “Days of Future Past” having effectively erased the horrifying mistakes from X3, Deadpool the movie has been given a platform in which it can perform (and succeed). One of the things we are going to see in the future is an X-Force film (from Fox), which will basically be a sequel to this year’s Deadpool movie. Well, sort of; there is already a sequel to this Deadpool movie planned.

So, this X-Force movie is going to be much like the X-Force comic books; rated “R” and starring Deadpool. It should be fun.

This has come as a result of Deadpool’s success. Now we are left to wonder what else will unfold as a by-product of this film’s success. Fox has the rights to the X-Men films and with this comes unlimited possibility. There will be a film about Gambit (which has been in production for quite some time—much like Deadpool was). You can bet that Fox will look into other X-Men characters to see what they could do with it. Basically, the success of this one will have a significant say on films involving the X-Men universe—including the main X-Men films themselves.

The success of Deadpool does not have to end with the X-Men franchise or with Fox for that matter. Just as “The Dark Knight” and “The Avengers” forced producers to drastically improve the quality of all superhero films (the ones prior to those films—save for “Batman Begins”—were terribly clichéd and annoying). Deadpool could force Fox into rethinking the “Fantastic Four” again (a movie franchise that flopped yet again), it could force Sony to rethink “Spider-Man” (the two of the rebooted franchise were not as good as they should have been); it could even force Warner Bros. and DC to think about what they could do with characters such as Green Lantern (whose movie was completely botched), Wonder Woman, et al. They simply can’t always turn to Christopher Nolan and David S. Goyer for hope.

Perhaps Deadpool is the “Dark Knight” of our time. Perhaps this is the one that screenwriters and producers will look to for inspiration now.

What makes Deadpool even more amazing is that it cost only $58 million. That budget couldn’t produce the Marvel Studios films that are being churned out every year. That kind of money could not make Superman fly as well as he did and then go on to destroy Metropolis like he did. Deadpool pulled it off with witty adult humour and a good story to go with it.

So, to answer the question that was asked, yes, Deadpool has changed the X-Men movies, as well as many other movies, forever.