New ‘Once Upon a Deadpool’ Promo Reveals the Real Reason for PG-13 Rating

From the moment fans learned a PG-13 cut of Deadpool 2 was hitting theaters, it was quite obvious that it was developed as a way to not only earn more money at the box office, but also a way to reach younger fans, potentially filling its pockets even further. A new ad for Once Upon a Deadpool confirms those are exactly the reasons for the new version of the film.

In the ad, a kidnapped Fred Savage asks Deadpool about the reason for the edited version of the movie, with Deadpool responding, “It’s a family movie, also money, also Disney.”

Despite the copious amounts of violence and foul language, both Deadpool movies have earned positive reviews from critics and fans, largely due to the narratives having more heart than other superhero movies, with the note about it being a family movie being relatively accurate. Additionally, the film was made prior to Disney acquiring 20th Century Fox, which means future films in the franchise might end up having to hold back in order to maintain a PG-13 rating.

For fans who feel like they’re being swindled into seeing what is essentially an edited for TV version of the film, Once Upon a Deadpool will actually include new footage.

“We definitely shot new stuff. And recently too. After Deadpool 2 came out and we were all sitting around, we came to it less about the idea of let’s make a PG-13 movie and more, ‘Let’s talk a little bit about Deadpool,’” co-writer Paul Wernick previously told SlashFilm. “We were kicking around some ideas and then I think it was Ryan [Reynolds] who had the great framing device and we all got excited and went to the studio. They said, ‘Yeah, let’s do it. Fire up the cameras.’”

If seeing a version of the film on the big screen again isn’t enough incentive to head to the theater, a portion of the proceeds will also be donated to charity.

“Because it’s the season of giving, we will also be giving $1 for every ticket sold to F-ck Cancer, which will be renamed Fudge Cancer just for this limited-time ad campaign,” Ryan Reynolds recently said. “Fox has been asking for a PG-13 basically since the start in 2006. I’ve said no since 2006. Now, this one time, I said ‘Yes’ on two conditions. First, a portion of the proceeds had to go to charity. Second, I wanted to kidnap Fred Savage. The second condition took some explaining…”

Once Upon a Deadpool hits theaters on December 12th.

Will you be checking out the film in theaters? Let us know in the comments below!