Disney/Marvel Studios’ wildly anticipated Deadpool & Wolverine has landed a day-and-date release in China on July 26. The approval from Beijing’s film regulators marks the first time the Merc with a Mouth has gotten the green light to launch in China simultaneously with the U.S.
Disney announced the news Monday over Marvel’s Chinese social media accounts.
The original Deadpool (2016), produced when Marvel fever was near its all-time high in China, was denied a release because of its graphic content. Deadpool 2 (2018) eventually hit Chinese screens, but months late and only after it had been reworked into the holiday season PG-13 version known as Once Upon a Deadpool. China still managed to generate $42 million in ticket sales for the title, the bulk of the youth-friendly rerelease’s $51 million worldwide total.
Disney hasn’t said publicly whether censorship changes will be made to Deadpool & Wolverine as part of a release agreement with China’s Film Bureau. But anyone familiar with both the Deadpool franchise and Chinese regulators’ usual M.O. will know that at least some tweaks can be expected to the movie’s graphic violence and maximally colorful language. Sources close to the film say no cuts will be made that alter “the integrity of the storytelling” or the “Deadpool spirit.”
In whatever form it takes, the movie will provide a useful data point on the current state of the Marvel brand in the world’s second-largest theatrical film market. Deadpool & Wolverine is arguably the most anticipated superhero film in several years, so China market watchers will be keen to see whether it can help reignite some fan enthusiasm for the MCU.
Since the pandemic era, Hollywood tentpoles have been a shadow of their former selves at China’s box office, with even the best-performing titles this year — Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire ($132.2 million) and Kung Fu Panda 4 ($51.6 million) — earning a fraction of what blockbusters brought home during the country’s box-office boom times of the late 2010s. Marvel, especially, has been on the wane. For a long stretch throughout the pandemic, Marvel titles were denied releases in China due to both pandemic control measures and suspected political issues. MCU movies began flowing back into the country last year, but none came close to cracking the $100 million mark — a number that was once par for the course for the franchise in China (The last MCU movie to surpass $100 million in China was Spider-Man: Far From Home with $199 million in mid 2019). Meanwhile, the biggest Chinese hits now regularly pull in hundreds of millions.
Perhaps the antic energy of Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman’s anti-hero chemistry will be what it takes to spark a revival. In a second post Monday on Chinese social media, Marvel said the two Deadpool & Wolverine stars, along with director Shawn Levy, will visit China in early July to promote the movie. Such trips were once commonplace for A-list Hollywood talent, but they have grown rare.
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