20th Century Fox

Someday, I hope someone makes a documentary about Neill Blomkamp’s Alien 5. First the project was held up by Ridley Scott, then Blomkamp released concept art that kinda-sorta forced the studio’s hand, then Blomkamp’s Chappie bombed and 20th Century Fox started dragging its heels, and then Scott started saying that the project was never actually anything substantial to begin with. No Alien sequel, no matter how fun, could possibly match the twists and turns of Blomkamp’s real-life struggle to get the film made.

Behold, the gag reel. Long a staple of the home video market, the gag reel was perhaps at its most popular in the 1990s, when Jackie Chan released a string of movies that included painful outtakes during the closing credits. When studios realized that they could package an entire DVD release around the special feature menu, the gag reel became a mainstay of any comedy releases over the last 15 years. And because Deadpool was one big improvised joke with enough physical humor to make Mel Brooks blush, it was a natural fit for the film’s Blu-ray release as well.

It looks like 20th Century Fox is in a release date kinda mood. After James Cameron used his film’s Facebook page this morning to share the premieres of his next four Avatar sequels, Fox has also announced the release dates for its upcoming slate of Marvel movies, including Deadpool 2, New Mutants, and the next film in their X-Men franchise, X-Men: Dark Phoenix. For the five Gambit fans in the house who thought this might finally be their moment, well, sorry guys, that one’s still in development hell.

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.

One of the stranger stories to end the year was the sudden departure of director Tim Miller from Deadpool 2, the sequel to 2016’s biggest breakout hit. Given the original film’s agonizing production history, it seemed like shooting a sequel would be a walk in the woods; instead, Miller’s decision to walk away from the project caught everyone by surprise, and rumors have swirled about creative differences ever since. Thankfully, Miller himself recently spoke at the Gnomon School of Visual Effects (via iO9) and put some of these rumors to bed.

Future advertising executives of the world, take notice: the official Instagram account for 20th Century Fox’s upcoming Logan is how you build up to the release of a movie. For the past few months, Logan has released a series of black and white photos that tease fragments of the new mutant-free world inhabited by Wolverine and Charles Xavier. Rather than simply share images found in the final movie, the Instagram account has put together a collection of photos meant to keep their social media audience engaged leading up to the film’s release. The photos serve as a kind of art installation for dedicated fans of the X-Men franchise.

A few weeks ago, Deadpool director Tim Miller shocked the world  —  or a nerdier and more profane subsection of the world, anyways — by walking away from Deadpool 2. As reporters scrambled to make sense of why Miller would leave one of the breakout franchises of 2016, reports emerged that Miller and star Ryan Reynolds had very conflicting ideas for the upcoming sequel and that 20th Century Fox had thrown their support behind Reynolds’ vision for the franchise. Deadpool 2 was officially in the hands of Ryan Reynolds now, but the film still needed a director, and the hunt was on.

This hasn’t been a great month for Ryan Reynolds and Deadpool 2. Between the departure of director Tim Miller and the loss of composer Junkie XL, the sequel to the breakout superhero hit has been losing momentum at a time where it should be locking in the moving parts for the next iteration of the film. That still hasn’t stopped 20th Century Fox from pushing forward with the sequel, which apparently will begin shooting as early as January 2017, production problems be darned.

If it seems like Hollywood has been trying to get a Freddie Mercury biopic off the ground for years, well, that’s probably because Hollywood has been trying to get a Freddie Merecury biopic off the ground for years. Back in 2007, it was rumored that Sacha Baron Cohen had signed on to play the famous lead singer of Queen, kicking off a decade-long futile struggle to get the film made. Over the next ten years, Cohen would officially join the film, quit, potentially rejoin, and then sign the project’s death warrant by officially airing his creative differences with the surviving members of Queen.

One of the biggest Hollywood success stories of the past few years was Deadpool, the R-rated superhero movie from 20th Century Fox. From dead in the water to surprise box office smash, Deadpool became a perfect parable for young filmmakers who have a story to tell and won’t let failure stand in the way of getting their movie made. Unfortunately, though, life doesn’t always adhere to clean narratives. Despite all the setbacks that Deadpool director Tim Miller faced along the way, it turns out there was only one thing that could cause him to throw in the towel: success.