‘Once Upon A Deadpool’ Trailer: “It’s Like If The Beatles Were Produced By Nickelback”

Remember when 20th Century Fox thought that a “Deadpool” movie would crash and burn? The famously meta-comedic character didn’t exactly jive with the darker tone of the successful “X-Men” franchise. Also, complicating matters more, Ryan Reynolds hadn’t exactly had a hit in a few years, so the project remained in development hell without an end in sight. Then, someone (the identity of who still remains unclear years later) leaked test footage for the film to the public, and the rest, as they say, is history. Oh, how times have changed.

With “X-Men: Dark Phoenix” pushed back yet again, “New Mutants” seemingly delayed indefinitely, and an impending merger with the Disney, and thus, the Marvel Cinematic Universe, the “Deadpool” franchise, which has spawned two of the most successful R-rated films of all time, is the best thing Fox has going in the superhero department. So, it makes sense that they would want to capitalize further on the series while the iron is hot, and lo and behold, we have “Once Upon a Deadpool,” which sees a re-edited, PG-13 version of “Deadpool 2” (with some new footage) that comes out smack dab in the middle of the holiday season.

In the new trailer, we see the same meta-jokes that fans know and love from the “Deadpool” franchise, but with fewer penis jokes. Instead, there’s a fun (albeit dark) joke about “Up” and a hilarious Fred Savage explaining to Deadpool why he prefers the real Marvel movies.

Though it’s unclear how much of the film will be new material (or how the more graphic scenes will be handled), but some new details from Ryan Reynolds highlight the new framing device, which apes the storytelling angle from “The Princess Bride,” complete with Fred Savage along for the ride (as the first photo from the new film showed). Reynolds also shared that in the holiday spirit, a portion of every ticket sold will go to the charity Fuck Cancer, which is similarly going PG-13 and changing its name temporarily to Fudge Cancer. So just a little more motivation to go out and see the film again.

“Once Upon a Deadpool” arrives in theaters on December 12. You can watch the trailer below: