Ha! I am right once again! After correctly predicting Twisters would beat its box office expectations, I said Deadpool & Wolverine would beat expectations, too, defying the $160 million opening weekend projection to come in around $200 million.
Indeed, Deadpool & Wolverine opened with a monster $205 million (domestically), which is the new record for opening weekend for an R-rated movie, and the eighth-biggest opening weekend of all time (six of the top ten on that chart belong to Marvel). Globally, Deadpool & Wolverine hauled in $438 million, putting it well on its way to becoming one of the biggest movies of the year (Inside Out 2 has already topped $1.5 billion, I’m not sure D&W will quite top that).
In and of itself, this would have been a great weekend for Marvel, but it was also Comic-Con, and they had their highly anticipated panel in Hall H on Saturday night. While they did show new footage from both Captain America: Brave New World and Thunderbolts*, as well as test footage for Fantastic Four, which is just starting production this week, none of that footage has been released to the public. But there were a sh-t ton of announcements, starting with the news that 1) yes, the Russo Brothers are directing Avengers 5 and 6, and 2) Robert Downey, Jr. will return for Avengers 5, but not as Tony Stark. Now, he will play Fantastic Four villain Doctor Doom.
You either die a hero or live long enough yadda yadda…
Based on reactions in the Squawk chat and emails I’ve gotten since Saturday night, it’s about a 50/50 split between people who are excited about RDJ returning, and people who aren’t feeling it. I 100% understand the decision, and I think had the last 12-18 months gone better for Marvel, RDJ wouldn’t be back, but given where we’re at, they NEED him. How much they’re paying him for this, I cannot even begin to guess (if he’s also going to appear in Avengers 6, I’d say at LEAST $100 million for two films).
So I get it, I get why they’re going back to the godfather of Marvel to play a popular supervillain like Doctor Doom (it is not clear if RDJ is playing an alternate version of Doom who is really Tony Stark, or if he’s just playing Victor von Doom himself). But I also think if Marvel cannot learn to function without RDJ, they WILL fail. I think the recent turmoil is largely due to not having a solid post-RDJ plan following Endgame, and now they’re setting themselves up to be right back in that spot by the end of this decade. By the way, Avengers 5 is now officially titled Avengers: Doomsday.
They also shared that the title for Avengers 6 is, as presumed, Avengers: Secret Wars, and Fantastic Four is subtitled First Steps. That’s stupid, but I presume it was done to create a title treatment future sequels can use, too. Still stupid, though. So that’s the next three years of Marvel’s top-tier releases, unless and until they actually get a deal done with Sony for Spider-Man 4.
In other news, Giancarlo Esposito confirmed his Brave New World character is actually Sidewinder, leader of the Serpent Society. Once upon a time, Marvel used “Serpent Society” to fake out the reveal that Captain America 3 would be Civil War. So that’s something. And they floated the Fantastic Four’s flying car, the Fantasticar, around Hall H, which is another thing nerds liked.
Also, Anthony Mackie apparently called out his co-star Danny Ramirez as the “breakout” of Brave New World. Since I’m on a prediction roll, and I’ve already correctly told you about Lewis Pullman being a stealth hottie, let me just remind you that all the way last year I told you about how delightful Danny Ramirez is, and that he has the potential to pop. I genuinely think we’ll look back at Top Gun: Maverick someday the same way we look at Short Term 12 and Starter For 10, as incubators for a generation of talent.
Also also, indie filmmaker Jim Cummings released a short film this weekend called Is Now A Good Time?, lampooning Marvel. It’s NSFW, but you can watch it here. No lies were told.
Still no word on Mahershala Ali’s Blade!
