Making the most of the fact that Deadpool & Wolverine is the first original film of the franchise to land a China release date, stars Ryan Reynolds and Hugh Jackman, along with director Shawn Levy, appear to have had a grand time promoting the Disney/Marvel pic in Shanghai this week.
During the trip, which was the first stop on the overseas promotional tour, the trio met with a packed house after 35 minutes of the movie was shown, and shared stories about how the project came together, which “elicited constant laughter and applause,” per local media.
Reynolds wrote on X, “Shanghai was the first stop on the #DeadpoolAndWolverine tour — and we thank you from the heart of our bottom. What a city and what a welcome.”
The trio was also spotted in front of a 10-meter-long giant Deadpool alongside the Huangpu River while the Marvel Weibo account noted the actors visited a Deadpool & Wolverine-themed pop-up store on Wukang Road in Shanghai which will be open until July 7.
As we reported last month, China’s Film Bureau approved a July 26 release for Deadpool & Wolverine, day-and-date with the U.S. This will be the first time the Merc with a Mouth is going to China in step with the rest of the world.
The first Deadpool did not release in China while Deadpool 2, completely refashioned as Once Upon a Deadpool with new scenes to create a PG-13 version, was released there in early 2019, many months after the original DP2 had its run elsewhere.
Some minimal trims have been made to Deadpool & Wolverine, but we hear that no cuts were made that impact the integrity of the storytelling and that the movie remains authentic to the Deadpool spirit — unlike Once Upon a Deadpool.
Reynolds, Jackman and Levy are continuing the tour, also making their way to Korea this week where they attended a baseball game. Wrote Jackman, “Ending day 2 on our #DeadpoolAndWolverine promo tour with two of my best mates at a baseball game in Korea?! If this is a dream, I don’t want to wake up anytime too soon.”
International rollout on D&W begins July 24. Domestic (and China) join on July 26. As Anthony reported yesterday, D&W hit three-week-in-advance box office tracking predicting a domestic box office opening at $160M-$165M, which would not only be the best opening year-to-date but also a record start for a R-rated movie.