Why Did Deadpool Rock and Fantastic Four Suck?

During the production of South Park: Bigger, Longer and Uncut, show co-creator Matt Stone sent a message to Paramount, who would be releasing the movie. It was over something trivial, a tie in music video for the film – Paramount wanted Kid Rock, the show’s creators thought that was lame. After an increasingly strained back and forth, Stone sent his plan for what should happen: “cooperation + you doing nothing = success.”

The success of Fox’s Deadpool feels like this very formula re-imagined for the superhero movie age. Made for a smaller than normal budget (for a comic book blockbuster) to offset the risks of its R-rated lewdness, Deadpool has somehow become both a financial hit and a viral sensation. Liberated from the studio restrictions a higher budget might bring, its creators and actors managed to deliver a film that’s fun, unique and welcomed by an unexpectedly large audience.

Deadpool‘s box office alchemy is particularly ironic for Fox after their solo superhero effort last year. Fantastic Four, the big budget reboot from sophomore director Josh Trank, will likely go down as one of 2015’s worst films and the kind of financial flop that only comes around once every few years. It was a mess, caught between two competing creative visions. Fox wanted a superhero popcorn chomper with action beats in all the right places. Trank wanted a moody, indie take on the comic book genre. When the studio didn’t like this, if rumour is to be believed, they took over the editing room and did some major reshoots.

At this point it should be academic as to whose vision was better. Fantastic Four is a tainted brand for at least half a decade, its already announced sequel quietly vanishing into smoke. Little can be gained from dissecting such a troubled production, and the whole affair would be Hollywood history, except Deadpool just said “fuck” in a superhero movie and everyone went to see it.

Not that the film was a hit based entirely on sex, swearing and graphic violence, or that Fox gave Deadpool‘s creative team a free pass on everything. On the other hand, which studio boss gave the okay for references to masturbation, sex work and everything else? This is the sort of thing executives cringe at for films this size.

Let’s recap some of the creative decisions the film makes. Sex, swearing and trivialised graphic violence in a superhero film? A superhero film tied pretty openly to Fox’s cash cow X-Men franchise? A version of Deadpool that’s closer to his comic book portrayal than anything seen on the big screen before? Remember, this is the same studio tactless enough to adapt a character nicknamed “the Merc with the Mouth”, then have his mouth sewn up for about half his screen time. How did this same studio allow a film so dark and goofy to exist at all?

Because let’s be honest: Deadpool was never a sure thing. Stuck in development hell for years, even when it was greenlit no one (not even Deadpool fans) really expected it to draw an audience. Fox could have panicked, insisted on a PG-13 rating, and plastered Ryan Reynold’s immaculately sculpted face on all the posters. Instead they allowed Reynolds and co to make a film as vulgar and sarcastic as the comic it was based on.

Two year ago, which horse would you have put your money on? A Fantastic Four which owed allegiance to The Dark Knight school of gritty superhero cinema? Or the uncouth slapstick cousin of the X-men movies that hadn’t even been officially greenlit yet?

Not every instance of studio interference is bad. Without studios sticking their noses in where writers and directors would rather they didn’t, Brad Pitt would never have been in Fight Club and Avengers Assemble wouldn’t have been the minor miracle it became. On the other hand Fox’s recent record speaks for itself. It’s a simplification, but cooperation + them doing nothing = success.

Whether Fox will actually learn anything from this is an open question. Their next big superhero outing, X-Men: Apocalypse, is helmed by trusted filmmaker Bryan Singer. Singer has a good relationship with Fox and has delivered for them enough times for executives to let him follow his gut. The real test will come early next year with Gambit, another X-Men spin off that still feel as if it might slip through our fingers like sand. Channing Tatum, currently enjoying a revitalised career, is slated to play Cajun mutant Gambit in the solo flick. One director has already left due to creative differences, which doesn’t bode well. If nothing else though, Deadpool‘s success should give Fox executives pause for thought on how much creative faith they invest in their filmmakers and writers.