Deadpool Movie: Rated PG-13 or R?

Last week Fox announced it had plans to move forward with a Deadpool movie. Fans immediately cheered but soon the old discussion surfaced once again: should the movie be rated R or PG-13?

We all know Deadpool stories often contain over the top action and violence. It's easy to immediately think an R rating is needed so that action and violence doesn't become water-down. Many have already spoken out on the matter, including Deadpool creators, Fabian Nicieza and Rob Liefeld.

When the news came out, I tweeted my thoughts right away. With what we're seeing in theaters these days, a PG-13 Deadpool movie could absolutely work without compromising who the characters is supposed to be. You can get away with quite a bit in a PG-13 movie these days.

Let's take 2013's The Wolverine, for example. It had a PG-13 rating. Wolverine is another character that tends to get into violent situations.

According to the website for parents, Kids In Mind, a breakdown of the violence, profanity, nudity, etc is laid out. They mention all levels of violence in the movie but here are some of the bigger ones. (Minor spoilers in you haven't seen The Wolverine yet).

• A woman stabs a man in the neck with a poisoned pen and spits acid in his face, which bubbles and blisters.
• A bomb is dropped and one man is completely burned--his flesh is singed and blistered.
• A man cuts his chest open.
• A man fights a "huge robot Ninja" and the robot cuts off his claws, Robot stabs man.
• A man is shot in the chest and we see a bloody wound.
• Several men are shot with bows and arrows.
• Many gunmen are stabbed.
• A man is shot in the leg.
• A woman stabs a man in the head and neck.
• During fight with ninjas, we see lots of stabbing and slashing. Many arrows are shot in man's back.
• A woman is shot with an arrow and pulls it out of her leg.
• A man and woman fight with swords. Man is sliced through mid-section and stabbed through chest.

It goes on and on and on. Some of the other moments are implied deaths. In some cases blood wasn't seen. But it's still a lot of violence.

What about profanity? The Wolverine had "at least 1 F-word" and one possible F-word. We've also heard it and other profanities used in X-Men: Days of Future Past and X-Men: First Class. Go back and watch them, you'll hear way more cursing than you would even see in an actual X-Men comic.

Which brings up another point. Deadpool comics aren't R-rated. Yes, we've had some Deadpool MAX comics but those aren't as common as the numerous other titles we've seen since his creation. Fabian Nicieza recently tweeted:

"20 years of #deadpool comics PG13 so how does an R give it 'soul'?"

There's also the box office to consider. We know if a Deadpool movie is not a box office success, we won't likely see sequels. Having an R-rated movie limits ticket sales. An R-rating won't stop younger viewers from trying to sneak in. Sneaking in takes away from the box office sales. Look at the gross of some other recent R-rated comic book movies (according to Box Office Mojo):

• Sin City: A Dame to Kill For (2014): Domestic - $13,652,974; Worldwide - $27,950,979
• Kick-Ass 2 (2013) : Domestic - $28,795,985; Worldwide - $60,795,985
• Dredd (2012): Domestic - $13,414,714; Worldwide - $35,626,525
• Watchmen (2009): Domestic - $107,509,799 Worldwide - $185,258,983
• Punisher: War Zone (2008): Domestic - $8,050,977; Worldwide - $10,100,035

Those movies may not compare to how a Deadpool movie could do. There's also box office inflation in some cases. There may also be a different audience. X-Men: DOFP did $233,857,844 in Domestic and $745,982,010 Worldwide. Again, it's not a fair comparison based on the scope of the movie. But The Wolverine even did well with $132,556,852 Domestic and $414,828,246 Worldwide (with a budget of $120 million).

Whether the Deadpool movie will be PG-13 or R hasn't been decided or announced yet. I would say it could and should be PG-13. Let's hear what you all think: