Deadpool & Wolverine: Reynolds's gamble pays off at box office

According to forecasts, the biggest box office hit in 2024 will be "Deadpool & Wolverine" (at least among films for adult viewers). A few years ago, few believed that the series with Ryan Reynolds would even become a series. During the first "Deadpool" production, the studio didn't even want to pay the screenwriters for their work. The star had to reach into his pocket.

There is now only a week left until the blockbuster "Deadpool & Wolverine premiere," which is scheduled for 26 July. Box office analysts predict that during the opening weekend, the film will earn around £123 million in the United States and over £246 million worldwide. And to think that Ryan Reynolds had to pay the screenwriters out of his pocket while making the first film.

In an interview with "The New York Times," Reynolds told readers what the beginnings of "Deadpool" were like. "No part of me was thinking when Deadpool was finally greenlit that this would be a success. I even let go of getting paid to do the movie just to put it back on the screen," said the actor.

Let's add that compared to most comic book adaptations from Marvel or DC Comics, the first "Deadpool" was a modest, if not a lower-tier project, something its creators often joked about in the script (e.g., they explained the small number of superheroes in the film by a lack of money). This modest, lower-tier project, however, cost £48 million and it's hard to believe that they couldn't carve out additional money from the budget for the screenwriters.

"They wouldn’t allow my co-writers Rhett Reese and Paul Wernick on set, so I took the little salary I had left and paid them to be on set with me so we could form a de facto writers room," explained Reynolds.

"It was a lesson in a couple of senses. I think one of the great enemies of creativity is too much time and money, and that movie had neither time nor money," the star summarized. Let's hope he didn't jinx it, because there was no shortage of time or certainly money for the production of "Deadpool & Wolverine."