It's not surprising that most blockbuster movies fall into the PG-13 category. This may come as a shock but producers get nervous when throwing around hundreds of millions of dollars, and when the potential return is in the billions. The results can't really be argued with, either. Look at Marvel, which has kept its content inoffensive and mostly family-friendly. We've grown so accustomed to it that any variation from the formula, like 20th Century Fox's R-Rated Deadpool, appeals to everyone because it's not the same old thing.
But even with that level of success, Fox executives were concerned the harder edge and adult-skewing material being pushed by Logan would be too much. Fox chairman Stacy Snider had this to say about it a recent Q&A...
“Inside, there was real consternation about the intensity of the tone of the film. It’s more of an elegy about life and death. The paradigm for it was a Western, and my colleagues were up in arms. It’s not a wise-cracking cigar-chomping mutton-sporting Wolverine, and the debate internally became, isn’t that freakin’ boring? Isn’t it exciting to imagine Wolverine as a real guy and he’s world-weary and he doesn’t want to fight anymore until a little girl needs him?”
Fox deserves credit for going this route, especially after the critical and commercial failure of X-Men: Apocalypse. The easy answer would have been to stick to the routine, even though the routine just bombed. Logan opens on March 3rd and we'll see if the payoff was worth it. [Variety]
