Deadpool 2 Working Title Revealed

The working title for Deadpool 2 has been revealed in a new production note. The film, currently looking for a new director and finalizing main castmembers, will be known as “Love Machine” while in production. The name is likely a joke about newcomer character Cable, who has cybernetic parts including an arm and eye that give him an array of additional abilities beyond his mutant powers.

Deadpool 2 isn’t exactly feeling the love in the last week, though, as director Tim Miller, who helmed the first film and had a large hand in it even being made with his Blur Studio sample reel, left the movie, reportedly over creative differences with star Ryan Reynolds. Later reports revealed the two couldn’t come to terms on casting Cable, Deadpool’s mutant pal in the comics who time-travels his way into the X-Men movie universe in the sequel, as well as arguing about the tone of the film. Miller wanted it to be more bombastic than the first, and Reynolds wants a stronger focus on the whit and humor of the first (hopefully he and the new director come to a nice balance).

Regardless, the film, at 20th Century Fox, will look for a new director, as well as casting the characters Cable and Domino (his on-again/off-again romantic partner and partner-in-crime). They need to work relatively quickly, as they’ve apparently secured a January 2018 release date for Deadpool 2 (it’s currently listed as untitled Marvel Comics movie on Fox’s schedule).

The sequel to Deadpool has a tall order in living up to the first; a labor of love for Ryan Reynolds, along with the writers and Tim Miller, the film was in development hell for a decade before getting a green light. That green light came after someone (reportedly Miller himself) leaked test footage that his Blur Studio created with motion capture and voiceover from Reynolds. The film, a hard-R superhero film, was a rarity, and did incredibly well as the highest grossing R-rated film in global box office (second highest in the US, underneath Passion of the Christ), and the highest grossing film in the X-Men franchise. The sequel is definitely important to Fox and the future of the franchise at the studio; they’ve even reportedly targeted an R-rating for the upcoming third Wolverine solo film, Logan, something that never would’ve happened had Deadpool not paved the way.

Deadpool 2 (aka “Love Machine”) is expected to hit theaters January 12, 2018. Fox’s next X-Men film is Logan in March 2017.