Deadpool 3 Sets China Release Date (But Censorship Likely)

The highly anticipated film from Disney/Marvel studios Deadpool and Wolverine landed a day-and-date release in China on July 26. The approval from Beijing film regulators marks the first time Merc with a Mouth has been given the green light to launch in China simultaneously with the United States.

Disney announced the news on Monday on Marvel’s Chinese social media accounts.

The original dead Pool (2016), produced when Marvel fever was near its all-time high in China, was refused release due to its graphic content. Deadpool 2 (2018) finally hit Chinese screens, but months late and only after being reworked into the PG-13 holiday 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-oriented re-release’s $51 million worldwide total.

Disney has not publicly said whether any censorship changes will be made to Deadpool and Wolverine under a release deal with China’s Film Bureau. But whoever knows both the dead Pool The frankness and usual MO of Chinese regulators will know that at least some adjustments can be expected in the graphic violence and more colorful language of the film.

Whatever form it takes, the film will provide a useful data point on the current state of the Marvel brand in the world’s second-largest cinema market. Deadpool and Wolverine is arguably the most anticipated superhero film in several years, so Chinese market watchers will be eager to see if it can help reignite fans’ enthusiasm for the MCU.

Since the pandemic era, Hollywood stalwarts are a shadow of their former selves at the Chinese box office, with even the best-performing titles this year – Godzilla x Kong: The New Kingdom ($132.2 million) and Kung Fu Panda 4 ($51.6 million) – which brings in only a fraction of what blockbusters brought in during China’s box office boom period in the late 2010s. Marvel, in particular, is in decline. For a long period throughout the pandemic, Marvel releases were denied release in China due to both pandemic control measures and alleged political issues. MCU titles began returning to the country last year, but none managed to cross the $100 million mark – a figure that was once normal for the franchise in China (the last MCU film to surpass 100 million dollars in China was Spider-Man: Far From Home with $199 million as of mid-2019).

Perhaps the ancient energy of Ryan Reynold and Hugh Jackman’s anti-hero chemistry will be what’s needed to spark a revival.