Saying that Ryan Reynolds and Disney might have seemed like an unlikely match when the studio took over the R-rated Deadpool franchise after the Fox merger is an understatement.
 |
| Hugh Jackman and Ryan Reynolds in Marvel's 'Deadpool & Wolverine.' Jay Maidment/20th Century Studios/MARVEL |
Reynolds, who juggles roles as an actor, marketer, branding expert, and entrepreneur, was central to the bold marketing strategies for the first two films. Just think of the viral poop emoji billboard for the first Deadpool movie or the scene where Deadpool recreated Burt Reynolds’ famous Cosmopolitan centerfold.
The question arose: How far would Disney push the limits, given that it traditionally avoids releasing R-rated films, with its Marvel Studios division never having done so?
It turns out that Disney’s Asad Ayaz, chief branding officer for the conglomerate and president of marketing for the film studio and Disney+, and his team were fully committed. The combination of Disney’s vast expertise and reach with Reynolds’ marketing acumen, aided by his own firm, Maximum Effort, crafted a strategy that propelled Marvel’s record-breaking Deadpool & Wolverine to become the highest-grossing R-rated film of all time. With global earnings reaching an impressive $1.086 billion as of August 18, its box office journey is far from finished.
“For me, the biggest challenge was steering clear of the typical R-rated marketing instincts of Deadpool,” Reynolds shares with Morfeli Reporter. “We aimed for a marketing approach that felt all-encompassing rather than focusing solely on one genre like comedy, action, or superhero. Our choice of collaborators — Heinz, Dave & Busters, NatGeo, TCM, and Bachelorette — conveyed our desire for broad appeal, as did the playful yet respectful tone of our content.”
Marketing guru Ayaz adds, “The R rating actually played to our advantage by setting the film apart. The goal was to reach the widest audience possible, including those who might not have seen a Deadpool movie or a Marvel film recently. With Marvel’s extensive and diverse audience, this team-up, which took considerable time to achieve, was crucial to our success.”
Reynolds notes that the first two films had minimal partnerships, with Mike’s Hard Lemonade being a notable exception. During the production of Deadpool & Wolverine, Ayaz’s team, in collaboration with Reynolds, Levy, and Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige, developed a list of strategic partners.
“We didn’t secure everyone on our list, but we did get a significant number and even some unexpected ones. It’s unusual for an R-rated film, but our goal was always broad four-quadrant appeal, despite the film’s edgy nature,” Reynolds concludes.
The no-holds-barred campaign was truly unparalleled for an R-rated film, especially one whose first trailer featured a reference to “pegging” (blush). Disney and Maximum Effort successfully partnered with some of the world's most recognizable brands, like Heinz, and major media properties, including ABC’s The Bachelorette and Bravo’s The Real Housewives of Orange County.
Even National Geographic, with its vast social media following, joined in with an upcoming nature documentary series narrated by Reynolds, Underdogs, which will include an episode about a real-life Wolverine. (ABC and Nat Geo are Disney-owned.)
Reynolds also curated a movie night for Turner Classic Movies, selecting Grosse Pointe Blank and Planes, Trains and Automobiles. Additionally, a special screening was hosted by Peggy (the dog who played Dogpool) and attended by over 20 top canine influencers on social media, along with Deadpool & Wolverine's Leslie Uggams.
The Best Friends Animal Society, Disney's official nonprofit partner, leveraged donations to run a PSA across broadcast and print media promoting pet adoptions.
In the weeks leading up to the film’s June release, Reynolds, Hugh Jackman (returning as Wolverine), and director Shawn Levy embarked on a global publicity tour covering 10 cities across four continents. This included China, where Marvel hadn’t sent talent since Avengers: Endgame in 2019.
Reynolds and Jackman also became the first major Hollywood stars to attend Korea’s largest music festival, the Waterbomb Festival. Other notable moments included the trio attending a quarter-final UEFA EURO 2024 match, with Deadpool making a dramatic field appearance at the end of the game.
The campaign's brand partnerships, valued at $135 million, were among the largest for any MCU title. This was in addition to Disney’s marketing expenditure of $100 million or more, typical for a summer blockbuster. Maximum Effort led several brand collaborations, including a prominent campaign with Heineken featuring Deadpool and Wolverine, and a special Adidas shoe line.
One of the biggest wins in terms of brand partnerships was Heinz, which rarely collaborates with Hollywood. In this instance, the ketchup and mustard were an ideal match for Deadpool and Wolverine’s signature red and yellow outfits, respectively. “It placed us firmly in the cultural zeitgeist in a fantastic way,” says Ayaz.
Ayaz also highlights a few personal favorites, including an Old Spice ad featuring Blind Al (Uggams) proclaiming that the scent “fights stank 24/7,” in reference to her roommate, Deadpool. Another standout is an Xbox collaboration that produced a game console with a controller shaped like Deadpool’s butt. (Ayaz’s team has had an impressive summer overall, with projects like Inside Out 2, The Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes, and now Alien: Romulus.)
Although it was announced in September 2022 that Jackman would return for the third Deadpool movie, Wolverine’s character was not fully revealed in the 2024 Super Bowl spot (there was only a glimpse of yellow). Reynolds admits that withholding Wolverine was a tough call.
“I’m glad we resisted the urge to unveil Hugh in the Super Bowl trailer. You can’t get that first impression back, and it built more anticipation than we might have anticipated. This team understands the lesson from Jaws: What you don’t see is often more compelling,” Reynolds remarks.
The trailer, which dropped on February 11 and revealed the official title, achieved a record 365 million views within its first 24 hours. However, Disney included the Super Bowl telecast ratings in that total, even though the full trailer did not air during the broadcast.
Reynolds and Feige vowed that the customized popcorn bucket for the movie would rival the lewdness of the Dune sandstorm bucket, and it certainly lived up to that promise, with hints of oral sexual activity.
The buckets sold out almost instantly, and Disney reported a surge in presales the day they were released. Additionally, there was a humorous bleeped-in-theater PSA featuring Reynolds and Jackman’s characters urging viewers to turn off their cellphones—well, half-bleeped.
“Considering Deadpool’s notoriously R-rated history, Disney’s marketing team was surprisingly supportive,” says George Dewey, who runs Maximum Effort. He notes he shouldn’t have been surprised by Ayaz’s team’s willingness to push boundaries, given Marvel and Disney had already allowed many irreverent and explicit jokes in the film.
“They were eager to embrace it. The first trailer had the pegging joke and Deadpool calling himself Marvel Jesus.” (Marvel had endured a rough patch before Deadpool & Wolverine debuted to record-breaking numbers.)
Dewey, who worked on the first Deadpool movie at 20th Century Fox, highlights the advantages of being associated with Disney: “Disney always broadens the scope. This character has really taken off in Disney’s big pond.”
In an August 15 social media post announcing that Deadpool & Wolverine had surpassed Joker to become the top-grossing R-rated film of all time, Reynolds shared a clip where his character quips, “Fuck Fox, I’m going to Disneyland.”
This statement perfectly encapsulates the remarkable shift from a few years ago: a world where Hollywood’s most family-friendly studio embraces Hollywood’s most foul-mouthed and R-rated antihero.