Audiences Want More R-Rated Superhero Movies, According to a Recent Survey
In the superhero movie business, ratings have until now seemed like a pretty simple business. The way to get the biggest audience while also keeping in as much fantasy violence and perilous situations to stay true to the comics was to shoot for the middle ground, a nice, nonthreatening PG-13. No full-on nudity, no blood splatter, and relegate your one allocated f-word to Wolverine. But the times, they are a-changin’, and superhero movies are changing right along with them, starting with shooting for the more mature, edgier R-rating. As it turns out, this is exactly the direction audiences want them to go.
According to a recent survey conducted by Fandango, 71% of those polled answered that they’d rather see more superhero movies given that R-rating, according to Deadline. Now, keep in mind that this was a poll geared towards those who were going to see Logan, so the answers might be a little skewed in that movie’s favor. But still, 71% is nothing to sneeze at, and indicates a drastic change in what audiences and studios are looking for.
Way back in 2016, Fox made waves with Deadpool, which gleefully bucked every tradition set before it by bigger-budget comic movies, its hero killing and cursing his way to a bloody, hilarious finale. It was as shockingly R as a superhero movie could get, and it was all the better for it. You just can’t do Deadpool any other way. Logan is decidedly lighter on the jokes, heavier on the, well, heaviness of its subject matter, and no less violent and deserving of its R than the former. Compared to these two, other movies in the Avengers series and even in DC’s most recent Justice League movies seem, well, just kinda bland. Logan has even been praised for hardly being a superhero movie, seeming more like a post-apocalyptic western or a Johnny Cash music video.
It sounds like studios may be heeding the complaints of those who have already grown tired of these franchises after they’ve barely begun. It’s time for a change, and the X-Men are paving the way.
Logan hits theaters this weekend.