>Here’s one reason to be a little disconcerted about its breakout success: Hollywood may take the worst possible lesson from it and ditch its efforts at demographic diversity because it arguably reinforces the most conventional of conventional wisdom.
>And, when you boil down its primal elements, what is Deadpool exactly? It is bawdy and hyper-violent action comedy aimed at the Id of the stereotypical cis Caucasian male, be it literal or an older male indulging in a teenage mentality.
>In just its first six days, Deadpool surpassed the total domestic grosses of the likes of Gone Girl,Django Unchained, Straight Outta Compton, the new Fantastic Four, and Bridesmaids. It will soon top the likes of Pitch Perfect 2, Twilight, and The Help. But what does it mean that it’s already topped the $170m worldwide total of Warner Bros./Time Warner Inc.’s Creed so quickly?
>Those films are the kinds of films that we all say we want Hollywood to make more of beyond just direct pitches to the stereotypical teenage boy. And the success of those films is held up as proof that films for adults, films for and about women, films for and about minorities, can be every bit as successful as the conventional wisdom pitches.
>But now along comes Deadpool, which not only is a massive blockbuster but also cost a mere $58 million. It’s a “reasonably budgeted” action comedy aimed specifically at young white males. And it’s going to make unholy amounts of money here and abroad. That’s great for the filmmakers and the studio marketing team. But it’s also a big an example of “confirmation bias” as you can imagine.
>It exists as a giant honking “See, we were right all along!” example of how much money studios can make when they craft a film aimed at cis white males.