As Deadpool & Wolverine is about to hit $1bn at the global box office this weekend, the question Disney suits will no doubt be asking themselves is whether there’s more wonga to be made here. Just about everybody expected Ryan Reynolds’s debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe to be a success, but few could have imagined that Shawn Levy’s film would look set to overtake Todd Phillips’s Joker as the highest-grossing R-rated film of all time in only its third week of release. This one is going to run and run.
All eyes will now turn to what happens next, because the whole point of the MCU is that there is ALWAYS something coming next. Where once Hollywood was dependent on sequels, prequels, spin-offs and reboots to keep the gravy train rolling when it finally had a big hit on its hands, it now boasts a seemingly endless saga that acts more like an ever-expanding, constantly evolving fanboy joy virus. Which is why the screams coming from Mouse House HQ this week must have been more palpable than the tortured yelps of those destined to spend eternity in Dante’s Inferno when Reynolds was quoted as saying that he had precisely zero plans for a follow-up.
