“Deadpool & Wolverine” spot starring Ryan Reynolds hits theaters

Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman in Marvel Studios' Deadpool & Wolverine.

Jay Maidment/MARVEL

Nicole Kidman has reigned supreme in theaters since 2021, as she and AMC unveiled an instantly memorable spot for “We Make Movies Better” that urged consumers to return to theaters in the wake of the devastating coronavirus pandemic.

Another issue that cinema owners care about most might be the high-profile treatment they get: those damn people who don't mute their cell phones when a movie is playing.

Last week, Marvel and Disney showed a spot that certainly felt like a PSA of sorts in the theater Deadpool and Wolverine Presentation at CinemaCon.

The spot began with Deadpool telling Wolverine his theories Secret warsa nod to Marvel Studios' upcoming crossover film, Avengers: Secret Wars. But every time Deadpool started saying what was going to happen in the movie, a cell phone rang and interrupted him.

Eventually, Wolverine had enough – and turned directly to the camera, hurling (bleeping) F-bombs at the audience and making a rather crude innuendo about how this was a movie theater and not “your grandma's nursing home.” Wolverine only stopped after Deadpool calmed him down.

According to a source, the spot shown at CinemaCon will actually be shown in theaters, but the Marvel/Deadpool team is keeping radio silence for now.

“Deadpool” and “Wolverine” previously enjoyed some synergy on the big screen with a spot that ran in theaters before 2017 Logan, the feature that was intended to be Hugh Jackman's swansong on Wolverine. In the spot, Ryan Reynolds' Deadpool witnessed a robbery and went into a phone booth to put on his costume. But when he transformed, the robbery victim was dead. Afterwards, Deadpool mentioned that Logan probably saved the man and continued to speak with an Australian accent, a reference to Jackman's natural speaking voice.

One thing's for sure: Reynolds' foul-mouthed “Deadpool” is making quite an impression on Disney executives as they prepare to release Marvel Studios' first R-rated film. Sony Pictures boss Tom Rothman is notorious for using the F-word on stage at CinemaCon. But Disney? Never, or at least not yet.

“Deadpool and Wolerine is fucking awesome. And the reason I can say that … is because it's an R-rated movie,” Marvel Studios boss Kevin Feige explained onstage (he uttered the profanity twice more). Director Shawn Levy also dropped the F-bomb.

Tony Chambers, Disney's global sales chief and presenter, also got in on the action, but saved his F-bomb Alien: Romulus when retelling, how original extraterrestrial Director Ridley Scott described director Fede Alvarez's upcoming film. “Ridley said, and I quote, 'It's bloody great.'” However, being Irish, Chambers decided to go back to the Irish version and use the word “fecking.”

Barry Jenkins also caught the bug while discussing his December family film Mufasa: The Lion King. “It’s a hell of a movie,” he said. “And it was my job to fill it with a big heart.”

As the mild-mannered Chambers explained those F-bombs just minutes earlier: “Sorry, but I've been corrupted too.”