"The Deep End" ("Deadpool 2")
Hollywood will always buck a trend because major movie studios don't like to take risks. When you gamble with an unsure thing, you risk losing lots of money. And nobody loves making money more than Hollywood.
But what the heads of those studios don't understand is audiences want something new. Something exciting. And sometimes, not often but sometimes, what is try and true in one form of media can have the same effect in another if you're only willing to take a leap of faith.
That's what Kevin Feigi, the head of Marvel Studios decided to do back in 2008 with comic book films. While there had been some great ones over the years and some terrible ones, they all lacked one of the coolest aspects their original source material had: a shared universe. For decades heroes like Superman and Batman would team-up or Captain America would face a foe too powerful for him and send the call out for the Avengers. Crossovers happened all the time on the printed page. But in Hollywood, you'd have Ang Lee's "Hulk" and Sam Raimi's "Spider-Man" release less than a year from each other and nobody ever thought about having them set in the same world. To studio heads, it would be too risky. So Feigi decided to take that risk.
Lo and behold, it paid off in a big way.
However, instead of Hollywood learning a lesson to make risky decisions, they decided "Hey! Let's create our own cinematic universes!" Not only that, but they also thought instead of following Marvel's example of slowly building up their franchises and putting the effort of releasing great films, they'd cut massive corners in a scramble to catch up with Marvel who already had more than 6 years behind them.
Universal sped through the production of "The Mummy" with immediate plans of a "Dark Universe" including the Bride of Frankenstein, Invisible Man, and Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. Over at Paramount, they announced five Transformers movies with spin-offs tying into a larger "Hasbro Universe" involving G.I. Joe, ROM Spaceknight, MASK, and Visionaries. Twenty Century Fox already had a large body of X-Men related films (albeit with completely mixed-up continuity) but decided they would reboot the Fantastic Four so a few years down the line the two superhero teams could meet. And then there was Warner Brothers. The WB owned all the film rights to every DC Comics property. If there was one studio who could succeed like Marvel with only half the effort, it would be them as they kicked off their new series focusing on Superman.
It didn't work. "The Mummy" was boring. "Transformers: The Last Knight" bombed. "Fantastic Four" got the Razzie Award for worst film of 2015. And "Man of Steel" took the most optimistic and hopeful superhero in the world and made him more somber and tortured than the Dark Knight of Gotham. And when Warner Brothers realized moviegoers hated that, they tried using the same tone three more times with "Batman V. Superman", "Suicide Squad" and "Justice League". Only "Wonder Woman" was universally praised; the one film where story came before setting up future movies and the character was portrayed the way she is in the comics.
That's why "Deadpool" was a success. They unabashedly took everything which made Wade Wilson the anti-hero he is in the comics and translated it into film without softening the language, the gore, or sexual innuendos. The notes they received from the studio on what needed to be changed were thrown out the window. It was a risk, and it paid off. Because they focused more on telling a story and less time trying to jump into the same pool as everyone else in Hollywood. - Jake