Deadpool (2016)

The Leak - Comic-Con 2014

The test footage instantly spread like wildfire across the Internet, and rapidly had millions of fans
begging and pleading for an actual movie release (even those people not privy to the comic books
themselves).
Those prayers were answered, and before we knew it, a Deadpool movie was being pushed
through to become a reality. Many are under the impression that there was always going to be a
Deadpool film, and this was simply the start of an epic and beautifully entertaining marketing ploy.

Foxs marketing operation is being given high marks for their provocative and irreverent
campaign, which launched in earnest almost a year ago. We treated this as a combination of a
superhero movie and an R-rated comedy. And Ryan was the real genius behind this, says Fox
domestic marketing chief Marc Weinstock, who made waves at Sony when orchestrating
District 9's marketing campaign.

In March 2015, a first-look photo was release depictingDeadpool in his costume lying on a bearskin
rug, mimicking the famous Burt ReynoldsPlaygirlcenterfold. The image was a key test to see if
fans approved of the costume. They did.

RR Addressing the PG-13 Controversy

Conan O'Brien Appearance

Two weeks later, Fox and the filmmakers convinced Conan OBriens show on TBS to
change its rating to TV-MA so as to debut the first Deadpool red-band trailer. It was the most
viewed red-band trailer in history, garnering 114 million hits.

Red Band Trailer

Green Band Trailer

Deadpool Sneak Peak

Teaser Trailer
Premiered at Comic-Con

How Deadpool Spent Halloween

Merry Christmas From Deadpool

Red Band Trailer

"This is probably as much variety as I've ever done for a campaign. And it traveled more
because so much of it was outrageous and audacious," says Weinstock.
Box-office analyst Jeff Bock says fanboys ate it up. Deadpool is unconventional in
ways, says Bock, but I call it a return to the core values of what comic books offer an
abundance of energy, unbridled excitement, spontaneous comedy throughout and
general snarkiness.

Most everything about the Deadpool campaign was designed to go viral, including a
billboard with a poop Emoji that, combined with a skull and an L, spelled out the
character's name. That and another mock billboard making Deadpool look like a Nicholas
Sparks rom-com appeared in fewer than 10 locations, but were the talk of social media.
There was also a "touch yourself tonight" campaign in which Deadpool encourages men
to check themselves for early signs of testicular cancer, an April Fool's Day gag
suggesting the movie would be rated PG-13, and aneleventh-hour video from Betty
White reviewing the movie, among numerous other gags and stunts.

United Synergy

Australia Day

Chinese New Year Promo

Valentine's Day Trailer

V-Day 2

This is perhaps more a feel good story than a marketing stunt, but it works on
both levels. Deadpool and 20th Century Fox decided to reward fans by offering
a surprise screening and advertising it as a fan get-together with a few clips
and perhaps a few giveaways.
Fans got more than they bargained for when they found out that they were
getting an opportunity to see the film weeks early, and were even more
shocked to find out that Ryan Reynolds was actually in attendance (at least for
a handful of the screenings). Even better than this story, the word coming out
of these surprise screenings that the film is, in fact, really good.

Tinder

"Script Leak"

Deadpool Emoji

The One Marketing Machine

Deadpool's campaign also had more traditional components, including green-band

trailers. And the movie invaded the most mainstream of events, the Super Bowl,
holding its official press junket the day before the game not far from Levi's Stadium in
the Bay Area.
"At that point, we wanted to be everywhere. And we knew from tracking that we had
reached beyond the core fans. We were getting everybody. Our whole plan was to be
accessible as possible in explaining who Deadpool was while treating the fanbase
with respect," says Weinstock.

The Ryan Reynolds superhero movie opened to an astounding $132.4 million for the
three-day Valentine's Day/Presidents Day weekend and $152.2 million for the fourday holiday, the biggest R-rated opening of all time and the seventh-biggest for a
comic book opening. (TheMerc with the Mouth just became Merc with the Money.)

No one saw those kinds of numbers coming not even Fox. Expectations were
tempered due to the film's R rating, unheard of for a comic book property. Not only
that, it's a "hard" R. But the demographics tell the story: At least 62 percent of ticket
buyers were males, says Fox. And 47 percent were under the age of 25, a higher
share than any recent comic book movie, according to exit-polling service PostTrak.
Nearly 37 percent of Deadpool'saudience was between the ages of 18 and 24, a
stellar turnout compared with just 19 percent for Guardians of the Galaxy and 19
percent for the more traditional X-Men: Days of Future Past (both of those films were
rated PG-13).