Withing one weekend of being released, Deadpool pulled in an estimated $135 million, making it one of the biggest box office weekends for an R-rated film. Looking at those figures, there is no denying that Deadpool will be considered a success amongst the elite in Hollywood.
The fact that they the film is said to be pretty darn good is entirely separate from the sales. James Gunn, the director of the Guardians of the Galaxy film took to Facebook today, criticizing a review of Deadpool that said the film had accomplished something that had "never been done before."
According to Gunn, Deadpool was "hilariously funny, has lots of heart, and is exactly what we need right now, taking true risks in spectacle film," but it's not a reason to "rewrite history" citing his own film, Guardians of the Galaxy, Ant Man and Iron Man as films that had similar qualities.
"Deadpool was its own thing," wrote Gunn. "THAT'S what people are reacting to. It's original, it's damn good, it was made with love by the filmmakers, and it wasn't afraid to take risks."
Moreover, Gunn went on to write out a prediction of what Hollywood would do with the success of Deadpool. His prediction calls for copycat films that get the formula wrong, mostly because they had no understanding of what Deadpool was and why it's being praised the way it is.
"So, over the next few months, if you pay attention to the trades, you'll see Hollywood misunderstanding the lesson they should be learning with Deadpool. They'll be green lighting films "like Deadpool" – but, by that, they won't mean "good and original" but "a raunchy superhero film" or "it breaks the fourth wall." They'll treat you like you're stupid, which is the one thing Deadpool didn't do.
"But hopefully in the midst of all this there will be a studio or two that will take the right lesson from this – like Fox did with Guardians by green-lighting Deadpool – and say – "Boy, maybe we can give them something they don't already have.""
Hollywood will more than likely try to make some money off of what they though made Deadpool so popular and guess what? They probably will make a lot of money regardless of the copycat being good or bad.
